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Death Benefits
If an employee has a fatal accident on the job or contracts a fatal disease or condition related to work, his or her survivors may be entitled to benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act. There are three types of death benefits:
- Burial expenses: the person who pays the burial expenses is eligible to receive a burial benefit of $8,000, regardless of actual burial expenses.
- Medical expenses: the employer is responsible for any and all medical expenses necessitated by the accident.
- Ongoing survivors' benefits: certain survivors of the employee may also be entitled to an ongoing weekly benefit, at a rate of two-thirds of the employee's gross average weekly wage during the 52 weeks before the injury, subject to minimum and maximum limits.
In the state's hierarchy of entitlement, the following survivors are entitled to survivors' benefits, listed by priority:
- the surviving spouse and young children;
- if there are no surviving spouse or young children, parents who were totally dependent on the deceased employee;
- if there are no surviving spouse, young children, or totally dependent parents, partially dependent parents or children, based on their percentage of dependency;
- if there are none of the above categories of survivors, surviving grandparents, grandchildren, or collateral heirs who were at least 50% dependent on the employee at the time of death, based on their percentage of dependency.
The duration of survivors' benefits depends on a number of factors. In any event, the total survivors' benefits may not exceed the greater of $500,000 or 25 years of benefits payments.
If you have lost a family member in work-related accident, contact the experienced workers' compensation attorneys at Drake & Collopy, P.C. online or call us at 312.345.0220, or toll free at 1.888.372.5355, for more information or to schedule a free consultation.
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