Work-related death: the indemnities paid by the CNESST

When a death is recognized as work-related, Québec's compensation plan takes over. And it does not pay a token sum: according to the CNESST (Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, Québec's workplace health-and-safety board), the lump-sum indemnity paid to a spouse in 2026 falls between $136,021 and $309,000.

What few people know is that the amount does not depend on the deceased's salary alone. It also depends on the surviving spouse's age — and not in the direction you would imagine.

What the plan covers

The CNESST pays death benefits to the dependants named in the Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles (LATMP, Québec's act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases), in particular the spouse and children, when a worker dies as a result of an industrial accident or an occupational disease.

The second door is wider than it appears: a recognized occupational disease can show up years after the employment ends, and the death remains eligible if the claim is filed within the deadlines.

The lump-sum indemnity to the spouse: income multiplied by an age factor

The formula is published. According to the CNESST, the lump-sum indemnity equals the deceased worker's annual gross employment income multiplied by the factor for the spouse's age category on the date of death.

That factor appears in Schedule III to the LATMP, consulted on LégisQuébec:

Surviving spouse's age	Factor
24 or under	2.00
25 to 29	2.25
30 to 34	2.50
35 to 39	2.75
40 to 44	3.00
45 to 49	2.75
50 to 54	2.50
55 to 59	2.25
60	2.00
65 or over	1.00

The factor peaks at 3.00 between 40 and 44, then comes back down. Between 61 and 64 it decreases year by year: 1.80 at 61, 1.60 at 62, 1.40 at 63, 1.20 at 64. At 65 and over, it is 1.00.

Put another way, at equal income the spouse of a worker who dies at 42 receives three times that income, while a spouse of 66 receives it once. The plan's logic is income replacement: it assumes an older spouse has fewer working years ahead.

The CNESST gives this example: the spouse, aged 33, of a deceased worker whose employment contract provided for annual gross employment income of $60,000 is entitled to a lump-sum indemnity of $150,000, that is $60,000 multiplied by 2.50.

Two limits frame the result. For 2026, the CNESST sets the minimum at $136,021 and the maximum at $309,000. These amounts are revalued every year.

Who is a "spouse" in the eyes of the CNESST

The definition resembles the one in the automobile plan, and it is more generous than succession law.

The CNESST treats as a spouse the person who, on the date of death, is bound to the worker by marriage or a civil union and cohabits with them, or who lives as though married to them — same sex or not — provided they have resided with the worker for at least three years, or for one year if a child is born or is to be born of the union, and are publicly represented as their spouse.

A long-standing de facto spouse is therefore entitled to the CNESST indemnity, even if they inherit nothing. These are two distinct legal worlds.

The monthly pension: real, but short

On top of the lump sum, the spouse receives a monthly pension equal to 55% of the income replacement indemnity the worker was entitled to — or would have been entitled to — on the date of death. For 2026, the CNESST sets the maximum for this pension at $3,216.65 per month.

Its duration, on the other hand, is surprising. It is determined by the spouse's age at the time of death:

Spouse's age at the death	Duration of the pension
34 or under	1 year
35 to 44	2 years
45 to 54	3 years
55 or over	2 years

Three years, at most. This is not a lifetime pension like the QPP surviving spouse's pension, but a transition. After that period, the household's income rests on whatever is left of it.

A disabled spouse — one with a severe and prolonged disability within the meaning of the Act — also receives the higher of two lump-sum indemnities: the one calculated with the age factor, or double the amount set out in Schedule II to the LATMP for their age. The CNESST illustrates: for a 33-year-old spouse whose worker earned $60,000, the factor calculation gives $150,000, Schedule II gives $228,638, and it is the second amount that applies.

Children

According to the CNESST, a minor child receives a monthly pension of $681 in 2026, paid until they reach the age of majority. At 18, if the child attends an educational institution full time, a lump-sum indemnity of $24,489 is added. An adult child under 25 on the date of death who was a full-time student on that date is entitled to the same $24,489 lump sum.

One case is worth flagging: if the worker had no spouse on the date of death, the lump-sum indemnity normally intended for the spouse is paid to their children, divided in equal shares, with the same floor of $136,021 and the same cap of $309,000. The CNESST gives the example of a 38-year-old worker with no spouse whose gross income was $48,000: her two children share $132,000, that is $48,000 multiplied by 2.75, the factor matching the worker's age.

Parents and other dependants

Where the deceased worker has no dependants at all, the CNESST pays a lump-sum indemnity of $35,362 in 2026 to each of their parents. If both parents are dead, the indemnity is paid to the worker's succession, unless the State takes the property.

Other dependants can also be compensated according to the proportion of their needs the worker was covering: $16,324 for a proportion of 25% to 50%, $8,163 for 10% to less than 25%, according to the CNESST's 2026 amounts. A lump-sum indemnity of $2,721 is also paid to the spouse, or divided among the other dependants.

Funeral expenses: up to $6,612

The CNESST reimburses funeral expenses to the person who paid them, on production of supporting documents, up to a maximum of $6,612 in 2026. The cost of transporting the body from the place of death to the funeral home nearest the usual residence of a worker who lived in Québec is also reimbursed on supporting documents.

That is more than the QPP death benefit, capped at $2,500, and more than the average cost of $5,700 that the Fédération des coopératives funéraires du Québec attributes to Québec's private establishments, citing a survey by the Corporation des thanatologues du Québec. On this item, the funeral bill is covered.

The six-month deadline

This is the tightest constraint in the file. To be entitled to the indemnities, the beneficiary must file the Réclamation du travailleur (worker's claim) form within six months of the death, or within six months of the date they learn that the death may be work-related.

The CNESST adds an absolute limit: a beneficiary who has never filed a claim loses the right to the indemnities seven years after the worker's death. After that deadline, the claim is inadmissible. In occupational disease files, where the link with work is sometimes discovered long afterward, that cut-off matters.

Neither tax nor seizure

Section 144 of the LATMP is explicit: indemnities paid under that Act are unassignable, unseizable and non-taxable, except the income replacement indemnity, which is seizable up to 50% for the payment of a support debt.

A sum received from the CNESST therefore arrives net, sheltered from the beneficiary's creditors.

The trade-off: no lawsuit

Like the automobile plan, the workplace plan trades automatic compensation for the right to sue. Section 438 of the LATMP provides that a worker who suffers an employment injury may not bring a civil liability action against their employer by reason of that injury. Section 441 extends the protection to other employers subject to the Act, except in particular where the employer has committed a fault constituting an offence or a criminal act within the meaning of the Criminal Code.

For the family, the conclusion is the same as on the SAAQ side: what the plan pays is, with a few exceptions, all there will be.

What the plan does not replace

The CNESST plan is solid, but its trigger is narrow. It pays nothing if the death is not tied to an industrial accident or an occupational disease — so nothing for Saturday's heart attack, nothing for a cancer with no recognized link to the job, nothing for a retiree. And even where it does apply, the spouse's monthly pension runs out after one to three years.

Individual life insurance works differently: it pays the sum insured to the designated beneficiary whatever the cause of death, subject to the conditions of the contract, and the proceeds are paid outside the succession when a beneficiary has been expressly designated. Eligibility criteria, medical requirements and timelines vary from one insurer to another.

Sources

• CNESST, « Indemnités de décès » : https://www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca/fr/demarches-formulaires/travailleuses-travailleurs/indemnites-remboursements/indemnites/indemnites-deces (accessed August 10, 2026)
• LégisQuébec, Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles, RLRQ c. A-3.001, Schedule III (lump-sum death indemnities) : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/A-3.001 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• LégisQuébec, Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles, s. 144 : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/showversion/cs/A-3.001?code=se:144 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• LégisQuébec, Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles, s. 438 : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/showversion/cs/A-3.001?code=se:438 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• LégisQuébec, Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles, s. 441 : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/showversion/cs/A-3.001?code=se:441 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Retraite Québec, « La prestation de décès » : https://www.retraitequebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/citoyens/deces/rentes-et-prestations-conjoints-enfants-et-heritiers/prestation-deces (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Fédération des coopératives funéraires du Québec, « Combien ça coûte mourir? » : https://fcfq.coop/blog/nouvelles-6/combien-ca-coute-mourir-4166 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Gouvernement du Québec, « Assurance vie du défunt » : https://www.quebec.ca/justice-et-etat-civil/testament-succession/testament/avant/assurance-vie-defunt (accessed August 10, 2026)