If there are three persons wholly dependent for support on a deceased employee and additional partial dependents the partial dependents would receive:

• A. Four times the amount annually devoted to the support of the partial dependents, but not more than $70,000
• B. Nothing
• C. Four times the amount annually devoted to the support of the partial dependents, but not more than $25,000
• D. Four times the amount annually devoted to the support of the partial dependents

Answer: (B)

In California workers’ compensation death benefits, dependents are classified as wholly dependent or partially dependent, and the availability of benefits is determined by that status. If there are any wholly dependent persons, they receive the death benefit and partial dependents receive nothing. In this scenario, there are three wholly dependent dependents, with additional partial dependents. Because there are wholly dependent individuals, the partial dependents are not entitled to any portion of the benefit. The formulas that multiply by four times the amount to support partial dependents (with or without caps) only come into play when there are no wholly dependent dependents. So the partial dependents would receive nothing.