Maine's Parental Comp Benefits

Early this month, Business Insurance published an article, authored by Louise Esola, entitled "Expansion of Parental Comp Benefits in Maine Unlikely to Spread." The article discusses an amendment to Maine workers' compensation law such that Maine now provides full death benefits to parents of injured workers with no requirement to show any level of dependency in order to be awarded the benefits. Experts say these new benefits make Maine the most lenient in survivor benefits for parents in the Nation. Labor and employment attorney Elizabeth Smith was quoted twice in the post, "It's a little bit different, but (providing benefits to parents) isn't without precedent across the country," and, in the context of normally proving parental dependency, "Benefits are 'wage replacement because of the injury or the death, and that's why you had to show dependency in order to be awarded benefits."

To read the full article, visit the Business Insurance website here.