Ch. 319

2003 LAWS OF MARYLAND

payments to a surviving spouse who was wholly dependent at the time of the
covered employee's death but who later becomes partly self-supporting;
specifying certain rates for determining a surviving spouse's benefits; providing
that the combined payments to a surviving spouse who was wholly dependent at
the time of the covered employee's death but who later becomes partly
self-supporting may not exceed a certain amount under certain circumstances;
providing for the application of this Act; and generally relating to death benefits
for wholly dependent spouses who become partly self-supporting after the death
of the covered employee under workers' compensation.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Labor and Employment
Section 9-681 and 9-682
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1999 Replacement Volume and 2002 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments,
Article—Labor and Employment
Section 9-682

Annotated Code of Maryland
(1999 Replacement Volume and 2002 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article - Labor and Employment

9-681.

(a)     If there are individuals who were wholly dependent on a deceased covered
employee at the time of death resulting from an accidental personal injury or
occupational disease, the employer or its insurer shall pay death benefits in
accordance with this section.

(b)     (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the death
benefit payable under this section shall equal two-thirds of the average weekly wage
of the deceased covered employee, but may not:

(i) exceed the State average weekly wage; or

(ii) be less than $25.

(2) If the average weekly wage of the deceased covered employee was
less than $25 at the time of the accidental personal injury or the last injurious
exposure to the hazards of the occupational disease, the weekly death benefit payable
under this section shall equal the average weekly wage of the deceased covered
employee.

(c)      Except as otherwise provided in this section, the employer or its insurer
shall pay the weekly death benefit:

- 2380 -