Personal Injury Law

Iowa Workers' Comp - What kinds of death benefits can you get?

By Steve Lombardi

Under Iowa law what benefits are dependent persons, (a wife or husband or child, entitled to following a work related death? Death benefits are covered under Iowa's workers compensation laws. Specifically they are covered under 85.28, 85.29 and 85.31. While death benefits are not limited to just those statutory sections those sections are a starting point. Case law further defines this area of the law. Rules and Tables apply in some instances and all of this is the law of workers compensation. Settling such a case has specific forms and each type of settlement carries with it different outcomes. Be careful with your claim don't try and do this on your own. Seek qualified counsel to assist you.

Here is a short list with general answers to the types of death benefits Iowa law allows.

Ambulance and Paramedic Care - Yes.
Emergency Medical Care - Yes.
Hospital, doctor and extended care - Yes.
Rx - Yes.
Ancillary medical treatment - Yes.
Burial expenses - Yes, "reasonable expenses of burial ... not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars, which shall be in addition to other compensation or any other benefit provided for in this chapter."
Funeral expense - Yes, see above.
Dependent Weekly Indemnity - Yes, this means you get a weekly pay check of workers' compensation for a period of time. Spouses are treated differently than dependent children.
Disabled and dependent children - Yes, to the end of the period of disability. It may never end.
Other dependents - Yes, but only if wholly dependent on the employee's earnings. If dependent for less than the full amount then a reduction is made based on applicable percentages.

The Iowa legislature is considering increasing the funeral and burial expense limit. See below.

Section 1. Section 85.28, Code 2007, is amended to read as follows:

85.28 BURIAL EXPENSE. When death ensues from the injury, the employer shall pay the reasonable expenses of burial of such employee, not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars twelve times the statewide average weekly wage paid employees as determined by the department of workforce development under section 96.19, subsection 36, and in effect at the time of death, which shall be in addition to other compensation or any other benefit provided for in this chapter. (3/19/08)

How a person dies at work raises all sorts of legal issues well beyond the scope of this post. These cases can be a quagmire or legal wrangling well beyond the knowledge and skill of any lay person. But it's safe to say if you have a loved one that is killed at work you need to seek legal advice on how to procede.

Here is the home page for Iowa's Division of Workers' Compensation. There is also a link on the main page of this blawg for Injury Board. At the main page, look along the right side under "Other Blogs Of Interest". Good luck and be safe rather than sorry.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on May 14, 2008 (boomark / email).