Nebraska to Increase Workers’ Comp Payout for Burials

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Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has approved a bill that will let the dependents of workers killed on the job collect a larger payout for burial expenses.

LB 378 by Grand Island Sen. Mike Gloor will increase the workers’ compensation benefit to $10,000, up from the current $6,000. The benefit was last raised in 1997.

Officials in the Legislature say 19 people died on the job in Nebraska in 2010, up from 16 in 2009. The National Council on Compensation Insurance estimates that increased benefit will have no major impact on the system’s overall cost.