Pennsylvania Fatal Workplace Injury Lawyer

When workers are injured in accidents during their job tasks, Workers’ Compensation can provide them with benefits for lost earnings, medical expenses, and permanent losses.  When it comes to fatal injuries, Workers’ Comp can instead provide their family with benefits to cover burial costs and lost earnings.

The actual amount of benefits will depend on several factors, but our attorneys can walk you through the process of filing a claim and getting benefits for a loved one killed in an accident.  These tragic situations often result in ongoing wage-loss benefits to help your family move forward, potentially allowing you to receive these benefits for years to come.

For a free case evaluation, call our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law by dialing (267) 651-7945 today.

What Accidents Qualify for Death Benefits from Workers’ Comp in Pennsylvania?

If a worker is killed on the job or dies from certain work-related illnesses, their family could be entitled to Workers’ Comp death benefits.  The specific accident or injury that caused their death usually does not matter as long as it was indeed “work-related.”

Death Closely Linked to Accident

Many accidents are instantaneously fatal.  If a worker falls from a high place or dies in a car crash, their death might happen quickly, and it can clearly be linked to the accident.  As long as that accident was related to their work tasks, there should be little room to question your claim.

Other workers pass after being rushed to the hospital and having treatment started.  In these cases, the injury is still quite clearly what caused the death, and we can firmly link the death back to that initial injury.

Death Within 300 Days of the Accident

Cases become more complex when the death happens well after the initial injury that caused it.  Some workers are left in comas while others make a partial recovery and potentially go home and spend time with their families for months or even years before complications with the injury ultimately cause their death.  This is common with severe organ damage, such as heart or lung damage.

In these cases, insurance carriers will often deny claims and blame the death on some opportunistic illness or unrelated health condition, but our lawyers can fight to connect this kind of late death to the initial accident.  These claims are allowed under the Workers’ Comp Act as long as the death occurs within 300 weeks of the initial accident.

Even when a worker dies while on Workers’ Comp and the death cannot be traced back to the initial accident, their family may be able to continue receiving specific loss from the original injury, such as payments for an amputation.

Types of Covered Accidents

As far as the actual type of accident that caused the fatal injuries, Workers’ Comp law allows for claims with nearly any type of accident, from falls to car accidents to machinery accidents to fires and more.

Work-Related Illness

In cases of a work-related illness like cancer, you can also claim compensation for a loved one’s eventual death, though this has some distinct complications as compared with fatal accident injuries.

Deadlines to File Workers’ Comp Claims for Deadly Work Accidents in Pennsylvania

In order for a claim to be paid, it has to be reported and filed within certain deadlines.  Injuries usually need to be reported to an employer within the first 21 days – or 120 days at the absolute latest – for a claim to be allowed.  If the initial claim is denied, you usually have 3 years to file the claim before a Workers’ Comp Judge.

Keep in mind that any time an injured worker dies while receiving benefits, the family may be able to file a death benefits claim if the worker eventually succumbed to the initial injury that caused their disabilities.  As mentioned, this can occur because of damage to the heart or other organs, but it can also occur from degenerative brain injuries, degenerative spinal cord injuries that eventually paralyze the heart and lungs, and other complications with injuries.  As long as the death occurs within 300 days of the initial injury, you can still turn your loved one’s claim into a death benefits claim.

Death Benefits Paid through Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation

When a worker is injured, they are often entitled to medical coverage and wage-loss benefits equal to 2/3 (i.e., 66 2/3%) of their average wage from before the accident.  They may also receive other specific loss benefits for amputation, lost function, lost vision/hearing, or other total losses.  Death benefits are a bit different for the surviving family members.

Medical Care

When a worker dies, their medical care is still covered, whether that means emergency end-of-life care, care during a coma, or care for up to 300 days before they pass.

Wage-Loss Benefits

Wage-loss benefits for an injured worker continue as long as they cannot work.  With deadly injury cases, these wages are paid to the family instead, though the percentage of wages is different depending on how many people the worker supported before death.

A widow or widower will receive 51% of the worker’s wages, and this amount goes up for each child they shared with the deceased worker: 60% for one child and 66 2/3% for two or more children.

If the victim has no widow/widower but did have children, then there is a certain amount paid based on the number of children and divided equally among them: 32% for one child, 42% for two children, 52% for three children, 62% for four children, 64% for five children, and 66 2/3% for six or more children.

If the worker had a widow/widower and one child who lives with a different guardian, the spouse and child will equally split 60% benefits.  If the worker had a widow/widower and two or more children, at least one of which lives with someone else, then the spouse and children share 66 2/3% wages, 33 1/3% of which goes to the widow/widower and the rest of which splits evenly among the children.

If the worker had no children or spouse, benefits might go to other dependent family members, such as aging parents or an underaged sibling they cared for.

Burial Costs

In addition, the family can also receive “reasonable” burial benefits up to $7,000 paid directly to the undertaker.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Fatal Accident Lawyers in Pennsylvania

Call Cardamone Law’s fatal workplace injury lawyers at (267) 651-7945 for a free case review today.