(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
Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation
Article 4. Disability and Death Benefits
§23-4-1a. Report of Injuries by Employee
§23-4-1b. Report of Injuries by Employers
§23-4-1d. Method and Time of Payments for Permanent Disability
§23-4-1g. Weighing of Evidence
§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
§23-4-6b. Occupational Hearing Loss Claims
§23-4-6c. Benefits Payable to Certain Sheltered Workshop Employees; Limitations
§23-4-6d. Benefits Payable to Part-Time Employees
§23-4-7b. Trial Return to Work; Insurance Commissioner to Develop Rules
§23-4-8. Physical Examination of Claimant
§23-4-8b. Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board; Procedure; Autopsy
§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
§23-4-16a. 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
§23-4-22. Permanent Disability Evaluations; Limitations; Notice