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Compensation for death

In the event that an employee dies in an occupational accident or of an occupational disease, the family members are paid

a funeral allowance and
a pension.

Persons considered to be family members are specified in the Workers’ Compensation Act.

Funeral assistance

If the employee dies in an occupational accident or of an occupational disease, the employee’s estate is paid a funeral allowance.

Funeral allowance is paid as a one-time fixed sum. The amount of funeral allowance is not affected by the employee’s earnings or the costs of the funeral. Funeral allowance is paid according to the amount specified for the year in which the costs were incurred. The amounts of funeral allowance are listed in the table on the page Amounts in euros

In addition, compensation is paid for necessary and reasonable costs of transporting the deceased from the place of death to his/her place of domicile.

Surviving spouse’s pension

The recipient of the surviving spouse’s pension may be

the widow or widower
or a partner in a registered partnership
a cohabiting partner, provided that the partner has lived in the same household with the deceased and has or has had a child with the deceased or has a notarised agreement with the deceased on joint maintenance.

If the marriage or cohabitation only began after the occupational accident occurred or the occupational disease manifested, the widow(er) or cohabiting partner is entitled to claim the surviving spouse’s pension if s/he has a child with the deceased or the marriage or cohabitation has continued for three years.

The amount of the surviving spouse’s pension depends on the number of children claiming the pension. If there are no recipients of a child’s pension, the surviving spouse receives a pension amounting to 40% of the deceased employee’s annual earnings. Otherwise, the amount of the surviving spouse’s pension depends on the number of children receiving a pension.

The surviving spouse’s pension is paid in full for the first twelve full calendar months after the death of the employee. After this, income adjustment is applied to the surviving spouse’s pension, reducing the amount of pension. If the surviving spouse has children who are entitled to a child’s pension, the reduction is not applied until the children no longer receive the pension.

The surviving spouse receives the pension for the rest of his/her life, unless the claim event occurred during work performed by the employee during retirement and the surviving spouse has not entered into new matrimony or cohabitation as defined in the Workers’ Compensation Act.

A surviving spouse who enters into matrimony or cohabitation as defined in the Workers’ Compensation Act will lose his/her entitlement to the surviving spouse’s pension. In this case, however, the surviving spouse will be paid a one-time compensation equivalent to three years’ pension.

Child’s pension

Child’s pension can be paid to children under the age of 18 and young persons who are students and aged 18–24. The studies must be full time and lead to an occupation. The amount of child’s pension depends on the number of children claiming the pension.