Maine law provides death benefits for transportation workers who die on duty

The State pays a death benefit to eligible relatives of a Department of Transportation employee who dies while performing official duties. A Department of Transportation employee is someone employed by the department who performs official duties on highways, transportation facilities, construction or maintenance zones, or other transportation property or projects the department owns, maintains, or administers. Work within the scope of employment or authorized by the department counts. The Transportation commissioner must determine under rules that the employee died while performing official duties. The benefit amount is adjusted for inflation. If there is no surviving child, the spouse receives it; if there are children and a spouse, each side receives half. If there is no spouse, the children share it; if there is no child or spouse, the parents share it. The benefit amount is the inflation-adjusted amount in effect immediately before the employee’s death.

The Transportation commissioner may make an interim benefit payment of up to $3,000. This applies when a Department of Transportation employee dies while performing official duties. The commissioner must find a need and determine, before final action, that a benefit will probably be paid. The payment goes to the person or people eligible for the final benefit, using the same sharing rules. If no final benefit is paid, recipients must repay the interim amount, but the commissioner may waive some or all repayment if it would cause undue hardship. The commissioner may make the payment before final action on the benefit.

The State pays a $100,000 death benefit to each of the families of James Brown and Dwayne Campbell, adjusted for inflation. The recipients are the families of James Brown and Dwayne Campbell. The payments come from the Maine Budget Stabilization Fund.