New York Labor Codes 16 306

1. Funeral expenses. The chair shall prepare and establish a schedule for the state or schedules limited to defined localities of maximum charges and fees for such funeral expenses, to be determined in accordance with, and to be subject to change pursuant to, rules promulgated by the chair. Before preparing such schedule for the state or schedules for limited localities, the chair shall request the president of the New York state funeral directors' association to submit to the chair a report on the amount of remuneration deemed by such association to be fair and adequate for the types of funeral services rendered under this chapter, but consideration shall also be given to the views of other interested parties. The amounts payable by the employer for such services shall be the actual fees and charges up to the maximum established by such schedule. Provided, however, no such schedule of charges and fees shall apply where a firefighter dies from injuries received in the line of duty as a direct result of firefighting or where a police officer dies from injuries received in the line of duty as a direct result of law enforcement activities, where such funeral expenses are reasonable. If such funeral expenses shall have been paid by the claimants entitled to compensation under this section or by others, the funeral expenses awarded shall be made payable to such claimants or others, otherwise they shall be made payable to the undertaker who shall have provided burial. Funeral expenses shall be awarded in case of all injuries causing death including cases in which there are no persons entitled to other compensation under this chapter.

1-a. For the purpose of this section, (1) the term dependent blind or physically disabled as used herein in relation to dependent children shall be deemed to mean totally blind or physically disabled children whose disablement is total and permanent, (2) the term surviving spouse shall be deemed to mean the legal spouse but shall not include a spouse who has abandoned the deceased, and (3) the term abandoned shall be deemed to mean such an abandonment as would be sufficient under section two hundred of the domestic relations law to sustain a judgment of separation on that ground.

1-b. If there be a surviving spouse and no child of the deceased under the age of eighteen years and no child of any age dependent blind or physically disabled, and the death occurs on or after July 1, 1948, and prior to January 1, 1978, to such spouse forty per centum of the average wages of the deceased during widowhood or widowerhood with two years' compensation in one sum, upon remarriage; and where the death occurred prior to July 1, 1948, to such wife (or dependent husband) thirty per centum of such wages during widowhood (or dependent widowerhood) with two years' compensation in one sum, upon remarriage.

1-c. If there be a surviving spouse and no child of the deceased under the age of eighteen years or under the age of twenty-three years if enrolled and attending as a full time student in an accredited educational institution and such enrollment and full time attendance is certified by such institution and no child of any age dependent blind or physically disabled, and the death occurs on or after January 1, 1978, to such spouse sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of the average wages of the deceased during widowhood or widowerhood with two years' compensation, in one sum, upon remarriage. Where the death occurs on or after January 1, 1978, and the spouse is receiving the survivors insurance benefits under the social security act, the death benefit payable under this section shall be reduced in accordance with the provisions of table No. 1 below by five per centum of the spouse's share of the survivor's insurance benefits under the social security act for each ten dollars of deceased's average weekly wage in excess of one hundred dollars provided that in no case shall such reduction exceed fifty per centum of said spouse's share of the survivors insurance benefits under the social security act.