Beyond the personal considerations that the death of a worker may entail, there is often uncertainty about what happens to the worker's labor rights in the event of death.
In this regard, the Labor Code, in Articles 548 to 552, establishes the process of "Distribution of Benefits for Deceased Workers," through which the beneficiaries of the deceased worker approach a labor judge to request the allocation of the labor rights that would have corresponded to the deceased.
The first thing to consider is that, unlike other matters, in this process, the worker’s family members do not need to initiate a probate process to request the payment of benefits, as stated in the final paragraph of Article 85 of the Labor Code.
To begin the process, any family member of the worker, either by blood or affinity, must appear before the Labor Court of the deceased’s last place of residence with a written statement indicating:
a) The name of the deceased and the employer’s name.
b) The names of the possible beneficiaries, along with their addresses, indicating those who are minors or legally incapacitated.
c) Death certificate and any relevant certificate of kinship.
With this information, the court in charge of the process will publish a notice to invite any interested parties to appear in the process. It will also notify the parties named in the initial statement about the process initiation and will request that the employer deposit the worker’s benefits into a court account.
Once this process is completed, the court will proceed with a formal declaration of beneficiaries to whom the labor rights of the deceased worker will be awarded.
As for the payments to be made, according to Article 85 of the Labor Code, the death of a worker constitutes a termination of the employment contract without responsibility for the worker. Thus, the Christmas bonus (known as “aguinaldo”), unused vacation days, and severance pay according to the worker’s seniority must be paid, as well as any other rights the worker was entitled to under internal company policies or legal mandates.
The notice is not paid, as it is only indemnified when the employer ends the employment relationship without prior notice.
Additionally, if the worker's death resulted from a workplace accident, the worker's beneficiaries are entitled to request an annual pension from the National Insurance Institute, in accordance with Article 243 of the Labor Code.
Finally, sums in favor of the deceased held in individual accounts with the Solidarity Association (if affiliated) and the pension operators (individual capitalization fund and mandatory supplementary pension regime) will also be distributed in this process. For this purpose, the Labor Court will issue the necessary communications to have the available funds deposited into the court’s accounts.
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