2023 Oregon Revised Statutes › Volume : 16 - Trade Practices, Labor and Employment › Chapter 656 - Workers’ Compensation › Section 656.204 - Death.

If death results from an accidental injury, payments must be made as follows:
(1)(a) The cost of final disposition of the body and funeral expenses, including but not limited to transportation of the body, must be paid, not to exceed 20 times the average weekly wage in any case.
(b) The insurer or self-insured employer shall pay bills submitted for disposition and funeral expenses up to the benefit limit established in paragraph (a) of this subsection. If any part of the benefit remains unpaid 60 days after the date of death or the date of claim acceptance, whichever is later, the insurer or self-insured employer shall pay the unpaid amount to the estate of the worker.
(2)(a) If a worker is survived by a spouse, monthly benefits must be paid in an amount equal to 4.35 times 66-2/3 percent of the average weekly wage to the surviving spouse until remarriage. Only one person may qualify as a spouse for the purposes of this paragraph. The payment shall cease at the end of the month in which the remarriage occurs.
(b) Upon remarriage, a surviving spouse must be paid 36 times the monthly benefit in a lump sum as final payment of the surviving spousal benefit.
(c) If, after the date of the subject worker’s death, the surviving spouse cohabits with another person, such that the relationship would be subject to the provisions of ORS 107.105 to 107.136 and 107.700 to 107.735, the surviving spouse must be paid 36 times the monthly benefit in a lump sum as final payment of the surviving spousal benefit.
(3)(a) If a worker leaves a child under 19 years of age, a monthly benefit equal to 4.35 times 25 percent of the average weekly wage must be paid to each such child until the child becomes 19 years of age.
(b) The total benefits provided for in this subsection may not exceed 4.35 times 133-1/3 percent of the average weekly wage. If the sum of the individual benefits exceeds this maximum, the benefit for each child must be reduced proportionally.
(4)(a) If a worker leaves a dependent, a monthly payment must be made to each dependent that is equal to 50 percent of the average monthly support the dependent actually received from the worker during the 12 months preceding the occurrence of the accidental injury. If a dependent is under the age of 19 years at the time of the accidental injury, the payment to the dependent must cease when the dependent becomes 19 years of age. The payment to any dependent must cease under the same circumstances that would have terminated the dependency had the injury not happened.
(b) The total benefits provided for in this subsection may not exceed 4.35 times 10 percent of the average weekly wage. If the sum of the individual benefits exceeds this maximum, the benefit for each dependent must be reduced proportionally.
(5) If a child is incapacitated at the time the child otherwise becomes ineligible for benefits under this section, the payment to the child must continue while the child remains an incapacitated child. If an individual is entitled to payment because the individual is an incapacitated child, payment must terminate when the individual ceases to be an incapacitated child.
(6)(a) If a child or dependent is between 19 and 26 years of age at the time of a worker’s death, or becomes 19 years of age after the worker’s death, monthly benefits must be paid for not more than 48 months until the age of 26 during a period in which the child or dependent is completing secondary education, is obtaining a general educational development certificate or is attending a program of higher education. The child or dependent must provide an insurer or self-insured employer with documentation that enables the insurer or self-insured employer to determine the child’s or dependent’s eligibility for monthly benefits.
(b) If a child or dependent who is eligible for benefits under this subsection does not have a surviving parent, the child or dependent must receive 4.35 times 66-2/3 percent of the average weekly wage.
(c) As used in this subsection, "attending a program of higher education" means regularly attending community college, college or university, or regularly attending a course of vocational or technical training designed to prepare the participant for gainful employment. A child or dependent enrolled in an educational course load of less than one-half of that determined by the educational facility to constitute "full-time" enrollment is not "attending a program of higher education."
(7) As used in this section, "average weekly wage" has the meaning for that term provided in ORS 656.211. [Amended by 1957 c.453 §1; 1965 c.285 §22; 1967 c.286 §1; 1969 c.521 §1; 1971 c.415 §1; 1973 c.497 §2; 1974 c.41 §4; 1981 c.535 §4; 1981 c.874 §15; 1985 c.108 §1; 1987 c.235 §1; 1991 c.473 §1; 1995 c.332 §13; 1999 c.927 §2; 2009 c.171 §1; 2015 c.629 §54; 2017 c.71 §2; 2022 c.6 §1]
Note:
Sections 1 and 2, chapter 106, Oregon Laws 2022, provide:
Sec. 1.
(1) The Department of Consumer and Business Services, the Employment Department and the Oregon Health Authority shall enter into an intergovernmental agreement, as authorized under ORS 190.110, for the purpose of sharing information necessary to enable the Department of Consumer and Business Services to inform beneficiaries of their rights under ORS 656.204.
(2) The information shared by the Oregon Health Authority under this section shall be the minimum necessary for the purpose set forth in subsection (1) of this section and is limited to information regarding deaths from COVID-19 associated with workplace outbreaks published by the authority. [2022 c.106 §1]
Sec. 2.
Section 1 of this 2022 Act applies to data related to the rights of beneficiaries under ORS 656.204 arising before the date on which the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 8, 2020, for the COVID-19 pandemic, and any extension of the state of emergency, is no longer in effect [April 1, 2022]. [2022 c.106 §2]