West Virginia Code
Article 4. Disability and Death Benefits
§23-4-4. Funeral Expenses; Wrongfully Seeking Payment; Criminal Penalties

(a) In case the personal injury causes death, reasonable funeral or cemetery expense, in an amount to be fixed, from time to time, by the commission, and upon its termination, the Insurance Commissioner, shall be paid from the fund, or the private carrier, payment to be made to the persons who have furnished the services and supplies, or to the persons who have advanced payment for the services and supplies, as the commission may determine proper, in addition to any award made to the employee's dependents.
(b) A funeral director or cemeterian, or any person who furnished the services and supplies associated with the funeral or cemetery expenses, or a person who has advanced payment for the services and supplies, is prohibited from making any charge or charges against the employee's dependents for funeral expenses which would result in a total charge for funeral expenses in excess of the amount fixed by the commission, and upon its termination, the Insurance Commissioner, unless:
(1) The person seeking funeral expenses notifies, in writing and prior to the rendering of any service, the employee's dependent as to the exact cost of the service and the exact amount the employee's dependent would be responsible for paying in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or Insurance Commissioner; and
(2) The person seeking funeral expenses secures, in writing and prior to the rendering of any service, consent from the employee's dependent that he or she will be responsible to make payment for the amount in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or the Insurance Commissioner.
(c) Any person who knowingly and willfully seeks or receives payment of funeral expenses in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or the Insurance Commissioner without satisfying both of the requirements of subsection (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $3,000 or confined in jail for a definite term of confinement of twelve months, or both.

Structure West Virginia Code

West Virginia Code

Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation

Article 4. Disability and Death Benefits

§23-4-1. To Whom Compensation Fund Disbursed; Occupational Pneumoconiosis and Other Occupational Diseases Included in Injury and Personal Injury ; Definition of Occupational Pneumoconiosis and Other Occupational Diseases; Rebuttable Presumption for C...

§23-4-1a. Report of Injuries by Employee

§23-4-1b. Report of Injuries by Employers

§23-4-1c.§23-4-1c. Payment of Temporary Total Disability Benefits Directly to Claimant; Payment of Medical Benefits; Payments of Benefits During Protest; Right of Commission, Successor to the Commission, Private Carriers and Self-Insured Employers to...

§23-4-1d. Method and Time of Payments for Permanent Disability

§23-4-1e. Temporary Total Disability Benefits Not to Be Paid for Periods of Correctional Center or Jail Confinement; Denial of Workers' Compensation Benefits for Injuries or Disease Incurred While Confined

§23-4-1f. Certain Psychiatric Injuries and Diseases Not Compensable; Definitions; Legislative Findings; Terms; Report Required

§23-4-1g. Weighing of Evidence

§23-4-2. Disbursement Where Injury Is Self-Inflicted or Intentionally Caused by Employer; Legislative Declarations and Findings; &Quot;deliberate Intention" Defined

§23-4-3. Schedule of Maximum Disbursements for Medical, Surgical, Dental and Hospital Treatment; Legislative Approval; Guidelines; Preferred Provider Agreements; Charges in Excess of Scheduled Amounts Not to Be Made; Required Disclosure of Financial...

§23-4-3b. Creation of Health Care Advisory Panel

§23-4-3c. Suspension or Termination of Providers of Health Care

§23-4-4. Funeral Expenses; Wrongfully Seeking Payment; Criminal Penalties

§23-4-5. Benefits for First Three Days After Injury

§23-4-6. Classification of and Criteria for Disability Benefits

§23-4-6a. Benefits and Mode of Payment to Employees and Dependents for Occupational Pneumoconiosis; Further Adjustment of Claim for Occupational Pneumoconiosis

§23-4-6b. Occupational Hearing Loss Claims

§23-4-6c. Benefits Payable to Certain Sheltered Workshop Employees; Limitations

§23-4-6d. Benefits Payable to Part-Time Employees

§23-4-7. Release of Medical Information to Employer; Legislative Findings; Effect of Application for Benefits; Duty of Employer

§23-4-7a. Monitoring of Injury Claims; Legislative Findings; Review of Medical Evidence; Recommendation of Authorized Treating Physician; Independent Medical Evaluations; Temporary Total Disability Benefits and the Termination Thereof; Mandatory Acti...

§23-4-7b. Trial Return to Work; Insurance Commissioner to Develop Rules

§23-4-8. Physical Examination of Claimant

§23-4-8a. Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board; Composition; Term of Office; Duties; Quorum; Remuneration

§23-4-8b. Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board; Procedure; Autopsy

§23-4-8c. Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board; Reports and Distribution Thereof; Presumption; Findings Required of Board; Objection to Findings; Procedure Thereon; Limitations on Refilings; Consolidation of Claims

§23-4-8d. Occupational Pneumoconiosis Claims Never Closed for Medical Benefits With Exception of Settled Claims

§23-4-9. Physical and Vocational Rehabilitation

§23-4-9b. Preexisting Impairments Not Considered in Fixing Amount of Compensation

§23-4-10. Classification of Death Benefits; "dependent" Defined

§23-4-11. To Whom Death Benefits Paid

§23-4-12. Application of Benefits

§23-4-13. Effect of Abandonment of Spouse

§23-4-14. Computation of Benefits

§23-4-15. Application for Benefits

§23-4-15a. Nonresident Alien Beneficiaries

§23-4-15b. Determination of Nonmedical Questions; Claims for Occupational Pneumoconiosis; Hearing

§23-4-16. Jurisdiction Over Case Continuous; Modification of Finding or Order; Time Limitation on Awards; Reimbursement of Claimant for Expenses; Reopening Cases Involving Permanent Total Disability; Promulgation of Rules

§23-4-16a. Interest on Benefits

§23-4-17. Commutation of Periodical Benefits

§23-4-18. Mode of Paying Benefits Generally; Exemptions of Compensation From Legal Process

§23-4-20. Postmortem Examinations

§23-4-21. Severability

§23-4-22. Permanent Disability Evaluations; Limitations; Notice

§23-4-23. Permanent Total Disability Benefits; Reduction of Disability Benefits; Reduction of Benefits; Application of Section; Severability

§23-4-24. Permanent Total Disability Awards; Retirement Age; Limitations on Eligibility and the Introduction of Evidence; Effects of Other Types of Awards; Procedures; Requests for Awards; Jurisdiction

§23-4-25. Permanent Total Disability Benefits; Reduction of Disability Benefits for Wages Earned by Claimant