Missouri Workers Comp Regulators Back Payments for Duty Claims

Missouri workers compensation regulators recently approved payment to families of individuals killed in the line of duty while protecting the public.

 

 

The Missouri Labor Department’s Division of Workers Compensation (DWC) mailed the first checks in the program after signing off on a pair of claims filed in 2010. These Missouri families each received $25,000 from the Line of Duty Compensation Fund. (WCxKit)

 

 

Payments were made possible through the Line of Duty Compensation Fund established by the Missouri Legislature in 2009. Since the inception of the fund, five claims for compensation were filed and two approved for payment.

 

 

Benefits are available for survivors of firefighters, volunteer firefighters, law enforcement officers, air ambulance pilots, air ambulance registered professional nurses, and emergency medical technicians killed in the line of duty when:

 

1.     The individual was on duty at the time of an injury resulting in death;

2.     The individual was engaged in the active performance of the duties of his or her profession; and

3.     The injury resulting in death occurred as a result of the individual’s performance of his or her duties.

 

A $25,000 death benefit is awarded, upon approval by the DWC, to the estate of the individual killed in the line of duty. (WCxKit),

 

 

The death benefit is in addition to any other pension rights, death benefits, or other compensation to which the claimant may otherwise be entitled to by law.