What Death Benefits Are Commonly Provided To Family Members Through Workers Compensation

Injuries happen on the job when you least expect it. Even when you take extra precautions to avoid them, an unexpected accident can occur. Unfortunately, sometimes these injuries cause the death of the employee. By law, businesses are required to carry workers compensation that provides coverage for the family should they suffer the loss of a loved one. This coverage is provided to immediate family members including the spouse, children or any family member that resided with the deceased employee. These are some of the different types of death benefits that are provided by workers compensation insurance.

Burial Expenses

Most states require that workers compensation pays all or a portion of the burial expenses of an employee who is killed while working on the job. This includes both the funeral costs and the cost of the burial or cremation of the deceased.

For those companies that pay a portion of these costs, it may be done in one of two ways. Workers compensation may cover a certain percentage of the total final arrangements or they may have a set amount limit of coverage. For instance, if the limit is $10,000 and the total cost is $12,000, the family would be responsible for $2,000 of the cost of the final expenses.

Dependant Expenses

If the deceased employee leaves behind a spouse or child that was dependent on his regular income, workers compensation also provides coverage for this need. However, the amount is usually around two-thirds of the amount of the employee's actual income.

These payments may be made on the same weekly, biweekly or monthly schedule. However, some workers compensation give the dependants a one time lump sum amount. The payments may continue for a set number of years or they may last until the spouse remarries or the child reaches adulthood.

Final Medical Expenses

If the dependants of the deceased employee are left with outstanding medical bills that were incurred when trying to treat the employee, these bills will also be paid by workers compensation.

This may include long term care, short term care, physician services and any emergency care that was given in an attempt to save the life of the employee.

Workers compensation death benefits are designed to protect both the employee's dependants and the employer. When death benefits are provided, the family of the deceased employee are less likely to bring a lawsuit against the company with the help of a lawyer like those at the Law Offices of Anthony L Coviello LLC for the loss of their loved one. The employer pays a monthly fee to keep the coverage active, but in the long run this can save him a substantial amount of money.