A workplace death leaves a family facing funeral costs and lost income at the same time. Florida’s workers’ compensation law provides death benefits for certain survivors. The schedule appears in section 440.16, which is part of Florida’s workers’ compensation chapter.
Funeral Expenses Are Paid Within 14 Days
The employer must pay actual funeral expenses up to $7,500, and payment is due within 14 days after the employer receives the bill. The statute applies when death results from the work accident within one year, or when death follows continuous disability and results from the accident within five years.
Florida Statutes section 440.16 contains the full schedule, and its history line shows the latest amendment came in 2014. The numbers below come from that text.
The Statute Ranks Survivors by Percentage of Wages
Compensation is calculated as a percentage of the worker’s average weekly wage and paid in order of preference. A surviving spouse with no children receives 50 percent, and a spouse with children receives that 50 percent plus 16 2/3 percent for the child or children. Parents rank after children.
The schedule in the statute runs in this order:
- A surviving spouse with no children receives 50 percent of the average weekly wage.
- Children with no surviving spouse receive 33 1/3 percent each.
- Parents receive 25 percent each while their dependency continues.
- Brothers, sisters, and grandchildren receive 15 percent each.
Death benefits are only one piece of the available workers’ compensation benefits, which also include medical care and wage replacement for injured workers. Those benefits go to the injured worker, while the death schedule pays survivors.
Overall Limits Apply to Every Family
Total compensation can’t exceed $150,000, and the total for all dependents can’t exceed 66 2/3 percent of the average wage. A spouse who remarries receives a lump sum equal to 26 weeks of compensation.
Families in Palm Beach Gardens who are sorting out which survivors qualify can ask a Palm Beach Gardens workers’ compensation lawyer how the percentages apply to their own household. The ranking and the caps can change the result for each survivor.
Children’s Benefits End on a Schedule
A child’s dependency ends at age 18 unless the child is a full-time student at an accredited institution, in which case it ends at 22. Dependency also ends upon the child’s marriage. A child who is physically or mentally incapacitated from earning a livelihood is not subject to those age cutoffs.
Children’s benefits follow a parent’s death at work, including deaths from falls, electrocutions, and equipment accidents among the South Florida workplace fatalities that OSHA investigates. The schedule above applies to a child of a worker whose death resulted from the work accident.
Different Workplaces Lead to the Same Schedule
The death schedule doesn’t change with the type of workplace. A fall from a roof and a machinery accident are measured by the same percentages and caps.
A death on a building site raises its own questions about who was present and what was recorded, so records gathered early matter in construction accident claims. Witness names and site reports should be gathered in the days after the death and before work resumes, because equipment may be moved and the site altered.
Deaths from other kinds of workplace events fall within workplace accident claims as well, and the rules on who receives payment stay the same for each. A claim in any of those situations starts with proof that the death resulted from the work accident within the periods stated in the statute.
Survivors seeking benefits after a death are pursuing Palm Beach Gardens work injury claims in which funeral bills and wage records are among the first documents needed. The schedule above then supplies the percentages once the worker’s average weekly wage is established.
Eric Lakind’s Credentials
Our attorney Eric Lakind is a Board Certified Workers’ Compensation Attorney in Florida. He earned his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1993.
Law Offices of Franks, Koenig & Neuwelt handles workers’ compensation matters for injured employees throughout Florida. Its attorneys represent injured workers exclusively, and their work includes back injuries and repetitive trauma.
Gathering the Paperwork Early
Families can start by collecting the worker’s pay records, the funeral bills, and anything showing who depended on the worker’s income. Those items support the percentage calculation and the 14-day funeral payment.
Records showing who relied on the worker’s income matter because parents receive benefits only while their dependency continues. Families can reach out to a Palm Beach Gardens workers’ compensation lawyer to review the schedule and confirm which survivors qualify under the statute.
