dependency benefits work comp Minnesota
This August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a report titled, “Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2008.” The Bureau reported that a total of 5,071 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2008, down from a total of 5,657 fatal work injuries reported for 2007. Some other key finding included:
- Fatal workplace falls, which had risen to a series high in 2007, also declined by 20 percent in 2008. Workplace suicides were up 28 percent to a series high of 251 cases in 2008, but workplace homicides declined 18 percent in 2008.
- Fatal occupational injuries involving Hispanic or Latino workers in 2008 were 17 percent lower than in 2007. Fatalities among non-Hispanic Black or African American workers were down 16 percent.
- The number of fatal workplace injuries in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations rose 6 percent in 2008 after declining in 2007. Transportation incidents, which accounted for approximately two-fifths of all the workplace fatalities in 2008, fell 13 percent from the previous series low of 2,351 cases reported in 2007.
After a fatal injury, typically the deceased worker leaves behind family and loves ones. The deceased worker’s family is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits in the form of dependency benefits and burial expenses.
Under work comp, the employer and insurer are responsible for paying the burial expenses up to $15,000. Additionally, workers’ compensation benefits are payable to the deceased workers’ dependents. Where dependency compensation is payable, Minnesota work comp provides that a minimum of $60,000 in dependency compensation must be paid.
Dependency benefits are payable to dependent survivors of employees who die from injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. In order for the dependent survivors to receive benefits, the work-related injury or disease must be a substantial causal factor in the employee’s death.
In order to received benefits the potential recipient must be a dependent. Dependents of the employee include:
- spouse;
- children under eighteen years of age, or a child under the age of 25 years who is regularly attending as a full-time student at a high school, college or university or regularly attending as a full-time student in a course of vocational or technical training; or
- children eighteen years of age or over eighteen, when physically or mentally incapacitated from earning.
A wife, child, husband, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father in-law, wholly supported by a deceased worker at the time of death and for a reasonable time prior thereto are considered actual dependents of the deceased worker and compensation shall be paid to them in the order named.
Minnesota workers’ compensation allows for various payments to surviving spouses and dependent children. Often times issues arise concerning payments to children, spouses, step-children, etc following a fatal work injury. These situations can be difficult to handle on your own. It is recommended you consult with a Minnesota workers’ compensation attorney trained in his area of law to ensure you get the benefits you are entitled to under work comp.
If you have questions concerning a dependency claim, please feel free to contact me through my website.
