When an employee dies while still employed, the family usually has several possible sources of financial recovery. In Philippine practice, these commonly include: Social Security System (SSS) death benefits, employer-provided benefits, final pay and accrued employment claims, and, in some cases, Employees’ Compensation (EC) benefits, insurance proceeds, retirement or CBA benefits, and damages or labor claims if the death is tied to employer fault or unpaid obligations.

This article explains the full legal landscape in the Philippines: who may claim, what may be claimed, how competing claimants are treated, and what practical and legal issues heirs should expect.

I. The basic rule: death does not erase employee entitlements

Under Philippine law, the death of an employee does not extinguish money claims already earned by the employee, and it may also trigger statutory and contractual death benefits. The family’s possible recovery is not limited to one source. Several benefits may exist at the same time, depending on the facts:

SSS death benefit
SSS funeral benefit
Employees’ Compensation death benefit for work-related death or illness
Employer death benefits under company policy, contract, handbook, CBA, or established practice
Group life insurance or HMO-related amounts, if covered
Final pay, including unpaid salary and accrued benefits
Retirement or separation-related amounts, if vested under law, policy, or contract
Damages or indemnity, if death resulted from employer negligence, breach of safety obligations, or other actionable conduct

These remedies are legally distinct. Receipt of one does not automatically bar another, unless a specific law, release, insurance term, or settlement clearly says so.

II. First distinction: what kind of “death benefit” is involved?

A common source of confusion is that families use the phrase “death benefits” to refer to very different claims.

A. SSS death benefit

This is a statutory social insurance benefit payable to the deceased member’s qualified beneficiaries under the Social Security law.

B. EC death benefit

This is separate from regular SSS death benefit. It applies if the death is work-related or caused by a compensable sickness or injury under the Employees’ Compensation program.

C. Employer death benefit

This is a benefit arising from:

the employment contract,
company policy,
employee handbook,
retirement plan,
collective bargaining agreement,
insurance coverage obtained by the employer, or
consistent company practice that has become enforceable.

D. Final pay / money claims

These are not “death benefits” in the narrow sense. They are the employee’s earned but unpaid entitlements at the time of death, such as salary, 13th month pay proportion, unused leave commutation if convertible, reimbursements, commissions, and similar items.

E. Damages or civil/labor liability

If the employee died due to employer fault, additional claims may arise under labor law, civil law, occupational safety rules, transportation law, or tort principles.

III. SSS death benefits: the primary statutory benefit

1. What is the SSS death benefit?

The SSS death benefit is the cash benefit paid to the primary beneficiaries of a deceased SSS member. If there are no primary beneficiaries, payment may go to secondary beneficiaries, subject to SSS rules.

The amount and form of payment generally depend on:

whether the deceased was a member with sufficient contributions,
whether the claimant is a primary or secondary beneficiary, and
whether the benefit is payable as a monthly pension or lump sum.

2. Who are the beneficiaries?

In Philippine SSS practice, the first inquiry is always beneficiary classification.

A. Primary beneficiaries

These generally include:

the legitimate spouse, until remarriage, and
the dependent legitimate, legitimated, legally adopted, and illegitimate children of the member, subject to age, civil status, and dependency rules.

Children usually qualify if they are:

unmarried,
not gainfully employed, and
below the age limit set by law/rules, unless permanently incapacitated.

B. Secondary beneficiaries

If there are no primary beneficiaries, the secondary beneficiaries are generally:

dependent parents.

If there are no qualified primary and secondary beneficiaries, the benefit may be paid according to SSS rules on other beneficiaries or the estate, usually in lump sum form.

3. Who counts as “spouse”?

This is often the most contested issue.

A claimant must generally be the legal spouse of the deceased member. Questions arise where there is:

a second relationship without annulment of the first marriage,
pending annulment at the time of death,
separation in fact,
foreign divorce complications,
dispute between lawful spouse and live-in partner.

As a rule, a common-law partner is not treated the same as a legal spouse for SSS death pension purposes. The lawful spouse has the stronger statutory claim, subject to proof of marriage and other SSS requirements.

Separation in fact does not automatically disqualify a legal spouse unless the law or facts clearly remove qualification. Remarriage after the member’s death usually affects continuing entitlement.

4. How are illegitimate children treated?

Illegitimate children may be qualified beneficiaries if they meet the statutory conditions. In practice, they may share in benefits as recognized dependents, though the details of allocation can vary under the governing SSS rules and implementing regulations. Proof of filiation is often the central issue.

Common proofs include:

birth certificate,
acknowledgment,
judicial recognition,
other admissible evidence recognized by SSS.

5. Pension or lump sum?

Generally:

If the deceased member had the required number of contributions, the qualified beneficiaries may receive a monthly pension.
If contribution requirements are not met, they may receive a lump sum.

The exact computation depends on the contribution record and applicable SSS formulas.

6. Does death have to be work-related for SSS death benefit?

No. Regular SSS death benefit does not require the death to be work-related. It is enough that the deceased was a covered SSS member and that beneficiary and contribution requirements are met.

This is different from EC death benefit, which does require compensability.

7. What if the employee died while contributions were unpaid by the employer?

This is a major practical issue. The employee’s family should still pursue the claim. In general, the employer has statutory obligations regarding remittance. The member’s beneficiaries should not lightly be made to suffer for employer delinquency, though actual processing may involve verification, posting, disputes, or enforcement issues.

Possible consequences include:

SSS claim delay,
employer liability for non-remittance,
need to reconstruct employment/contribution records,
separate enforcement against the employer.

Where the employer failed to register or remit despite deducting contributions, this may create direct legal exposure for the employer.

8. Funeral benefit

Separate from the death benefit, a funeral benefit may be available to the person who actually paid for the funeral expenses, subject to SSS rules. This claimant is not necessarily the same person entitled to the death pension.

Proof usually includes:

official receipts,
death certificate,
proof of relationship or authority, if required,
SSS claim forms and ID documents.

IV. Employees’ Compensation death benefit: when the death is work-related

This benefit is often overlooked.

If the employee’s death was caused by:

a work-related injury,
a compensable occupational disease, or
an illness or event sufficiently related to employment under the applicable standards,

the heirs or beneficiaries may also pursue EC death benefits.

1. Nature of EC benefits

EC benefits are distinct from regular SSS benefits. They exist to compensate employment-connected death or disability.

2. What must be shown?

The core issue is compensability. Families usually need to establish:

the cause of death,
the relation of the illness/injury to the work,
medical and employment records,
circumstances of the incident.

3. Common work-related death scenarios

Examples include:

fatal workplace accidents,
vehicular accidents in the course of duty,
industrial incidents,
exposure-related disease,
fatal assault while performing work,
heart attack or stroke with provable work connection,
deaths during official travel or assigned duty, depending on facts.

4. Not every death at work is automatically compensable

Being on work premises is relevant but not always conclusive. The inquiry is whether the death arose out of and in the course of employment, or meets the compensability rules for occupational disease or work-aggravation.

5. EC and SSS may both apply

A family may validly have:

regular SSS death benefits, and
EC death benefits, because they come from different legal bases.

V. Employer benefits: what the company may owe beyond SSS

SSS benefits do not exhaust the employer’s obligations.

1. Sources of employer liability or benefit

An employer may owe death-related amounts from any of these:

A. Employment contract

Some contracts provide:

death gratuity,
survivorship assistance,
accidental death assistance,
service recognition payment,
continuation of salary for a period,
payment of life insurance premiums or proceeds.

B. Company handbook or manual

A handbook can create enforceable obligations if its terms are definite and are part of employment conditions.

C. Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

Unionized employees may have negotiated death assistance, bereavement support, survivorship benefits, or insurance coverage.

D. Retirement plan or provident fund

Even if death occurs before optional retirement age, the plan may contain vested death or separation-on-death benefits.

E. Established company practice

Consistent, deliberate, and long-standing grant of a benefit may ripen into an enforceable practice that cannot be unilaterally withdrawn.

F. Insurance procured by the employer

Many employers maintain:

group life insurance,
accidental death and dismemberment coverage,
survivorship assistance,
employee welfare funds.

The beneficiary may be the employee’s nominated beneficiary, legal heirs, or estate depending on policy terms.

2. Is the employer automatically required to pay a “death benefit”?

Not always. Unlike SSS, there is no universal labor-law rule requiring every private employer to pay a separate death gratuity in all cases of employee death. The right must usually come from:

law,
contract,
policy,
CBA,
plan rules,
insurance coverage,
established practice,
or liability for wrongdoing.

3. Public sector versus private sector

Government employees may be covered by a different regime, including GSIS rather than SSS, plus agency-specific and civil-service-related rules. This article focuses on the private-sector, Philippine labor and SSS context.

VI. Final pay after death: what heirs can claim from the employer

Even where there is no special employer death gratuity, the family is usually entitled to the employee’s final pay.

This commonly includes:

unpaid salary up to date of death,
pro-rated 13th month pay,
accrued leave conversion, if legally or contractually convertible,
commissions already earned,
overtime already earned but unpaid,
allowances already vested,
reimbursement of approved expenses,
unpaid incentives that have already accrued,
retirement or plan benefits already vested,
tax refund or payroll adjustment due,
other earned benefits under contract or policy.

1. Are these payable to “heirs” automatically?

They are payable to the persons legally entitled to receive them. In practice, employers often require proof of:

relationship,
heirship,
authority to receive,
settlement documents,
notarized affidavits,
extra-judicial settlement if needed,
waiver or conformity from co-heirs.

2. Can the employer release final pay to only one family member?

Only with caution. If there are several possible heirs, the employer risks double liability by paying the wrong person. Employers therefore often require:

all heirs to sign,
an affidavit of self-adjudication where legally proper,
extra-judicial settlement,
special power of attorney,
guardianship documents for minors,
proof that there are no other claimants.

3. What if the amount is small?

For modest final pay amounts, some employers adopt documentary shortcuts, but these do not remove the need to pay the legally entitled party. Prudence still matters.

VII. Who are the “heirs” in employer claims?

This is where succession law intersects with labor law.

Important distinction:

For SSS death benefits, entitlement follows the Social Security law’s beneficiary rules, not ordinary succession rules.

For unpaid salary, final pay, insurance without named beneficiary, and other estate-type claims, ordinary succession principles may matter.

Thus, the person entitled under SSS rules may not be identical to the person entitled under inheritance law.

1. SSS beneficiaries are not determined simply by “who are the heirs”

For example:

a lawful spouse and dependent children may qualify under SSS even before considering the full rules of intestate succession;
brothers, sisters, or adult children may be heirs under civil law in some circumstances, but may not be primary SSS beneficiaries.

2. Estate-based claims follow succession rules

Amounts belonging to the deceased employee’s estate may require settlement under the Civil Code and Rules of Court principles on succession and estate administration.

Examples:

unpaid salary,
receivables due to the employee,
damages awarded to the estate,
insurance proceeds payable to the estate,
share in company cooperative or savings fund if no beneficiary designation governs.

VIII. Minor children and representation

If a qualified child is a minor, claims typically require representation by:

the surviving parent,
a judicial guardian,
or another lawful representative, depending on the nature of the claim and the institution’s requirements.

For employer release of significant sums, minors’ interests must be handled carefully. Employers and insurers are often stricter where:

there are multiple minor children,
the surviving parent is not the legal spouse,
filiation is disputed,
there are competing family groups.

IX. Competing claimants: the most common disputes

Death claims frequently produce multi-party disputes. The most common are these:

1. Legal spouse versus live-in partner

Usually, the legal spouse has the stronger statutory position for SSS spousal benefits.

2. First family versus second family

Questions arise regarding:

validity of marriage,
legitimacy of children,
dependency,
beneficiary designation,
succession shares,
authority to receive final pay.

3. Legitimate children versus illegitimate children

For SSS, the issue is qualification under SSS beneficiary rules. For estate claims, succession law becomes relevant.

4. Parents versus spouse and children

Dependent parents are usually secondary, not primary, beneficiaries in SSS structure. They generally come in only in the absence of primary beneficiaries.

5. Named insurance beneficiary versus legal heirs

If a life insurance policy validly designates a beneficiary, the proceeds often go to that beneficiary and may not pass through the estate, depending on policy and insurance law rules.

6. Employer wants estate documents but family wants immediate release

This is common. The employer wants protection from multiple claims; the family wants urgent release. The legal solution usually lies in proper documentation, not informal assurances.

X. Documents usually needed

Requirements vary by SSS, employer, insurer, and the facts. Common documents include:

For SSS death claim

death certificate
marriage certificate, if spouse claimant
birth certificates of children
proof of dependency
SSS records and claim forms
valid IDs
bank/payment enrollment documents
supporting documents for disputed filiation or civil status

For SSS funeral claim

official receipts
funeral contract or billing statements
proof claimant paid the expenses
death certificate
IDs and claim forms

For EC death claim

incident report
employer certification
medical records
death certificate
police report or accident report, if applicable
employment records
proof connecting death to work

For employer final pay / benefits

death certificate
proof of relationship
IDs of claimants
affidavit of heirship or extra-judicial settlement
SPA or authorization
guardian documents for minors
company clearance requirements where applicable
policy/CBA/contract basis for claimed benefit

For insurance claims

insurance policy details
beneficiary form
death certificate
cause-of-death documents
claimant IDs
insurer forms
medical and incident records if accidental death is claimed

XI. Does the employer have to release benefits immediately?

Not necessarily immediately, but not unreasonably late either.

Employers may take reasonable steps to verify:

the amount due,
the lawful claimants,
deductions and obligations,
existence of competing heirs,
documentary sufficiency.

However, delay can become unlawful when it is:

unreasonable,
in bad faith,
based on invented requirements,
a pretext to avoid payment,
or contrary to clear contract/policy obligations.

Where entitlement is clear, prolonged withholding may expose the employer to labor claims or civil liability.

XII. Taxes and deductions

1. Final compensation

Unpaid salary and related items may still be subject to ordinary payroll and tax rules, depending on the nature of the amount.

2. Insurance proceeds

These often follow a different tax treatment from salary-type items.

3. Estate implications

Certain amounts may be considered part of the estate, while others, like validly designated insurance proceeds, may follow separate rules. Tax treatment depends on the legal character of the benefit.

Because the tax classification turns on the type of payment, families should not assume that all “death benefits” are tax-free.

XIII. Can the employer deduct loans, cash advances, or shortages from final pay?

Possibly, but only if the deduction is legally supportable and properly documented. Employers should be careful with:

unauthorized offsets,
disputed accountabilities,
inflated shortages,
unproven liabilities.

A deceased employee obviously cannot contest payroll deductions personally, so the employer must be especially cautious. Unsupported deductions can be challenged by heirs.

XIV. What if the employee died in a workplace accident caused by employer negligence?

This can produce additional liability beyond SSS and EC.

Possible legal consequences include:

labor and OSH enforcement exposure,
civil damages,
contractual damages,
quasi-delict claims,
possible criminal implications in extreme cases.

Potential claimants may pursue:

death benefits under SSS,
EC benefits,
insurance proceeds,
final pay,
and separate damages under civil law or other applicable statutes.

The key issue is that statutory social insurance does not automatically erase independent employer liability for fault.

XV. Occupational Safety and Health implications

If the death was related to unsafe workplace conditions, the family should examine:

safety training records,
PPE compliance,
hazard controls,
incident reports,
prior warnings,
contractor/subcontractor arrangements,
transport and travel policies,
emergency response failures.

An employer’s failure to observe legally required workplace safety standards can significantly affect liability analysis.

XVI. Death during commute, travel, or remote work

These cases are fact-sensitive.

1. During commute

Ordinary home-to-work travel is not always compensable, but exceptions may exist depending on employer control, special mission, company transport, or work-related circumstances.

2. During official business travel

A death during work travel has a stronger case for EC compensability, especially if it occurred while carrying out assigned duties.

3. During remote work

Remote work deaths raise newer factual issues:

was the employee performing assigned work?
was there employer control or work connection?
did the death arise from a compensable event related to employment?

The answer depends heavily on evidence.

XVII. What happens if there is no beneficiary designation in company insurance?

Then entitlement depends on:

the terms of the policy,
insurer rules,
law on beneficiaries,
succession principles,
and whether the policy defaults to the estate or legal heirs.

The family should secure the actual policy wording. Many disputes arise because relatives assume the company, not the insurer, decides who gets the proceeds. Often, the policy terms control.

XVIII. Prescription and timing of claims

Families should act promptly.

Different claims have different periods depending on their legal basis:

SSS claims follow SSS rules and administrative processes;
labor money claims may be subject to prescription under labor law;
written contractual claims may follow civil-law prescription rules;
insurance claims are subject to policy terms and applicable law;
damages actions may have separate deadlines.

Delay creates practical problems even before prescription:

records are lost,
employers change personnel,
payroll systems archive data,
witnesses disappear,
family disputes worsen.

XIX. Where claims are filed

1. SSS death and funeral benefits

Filed with the SSS through its claims process.

2. EC claims

Typically processed through the applicable social insurance and compensation framework, often linked to SSS administration in the private sector.

3. Employer unpaid benefits and final pay

Usually first pursued directly with the employer HR/payroll/legal office.

4. Labor money claims

If the employer refuses payment, the proper forum may be the DOLE or the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), depending on the nature and amount of the claim and applicable procedure.

5. Civil damages

Filed in the regular courts when the cause of action is civil, tort-based, or otherwise outside purely labor adjudication.

6. Estate issues

If conflicting heirs cannot agree, settlement may require probate or other proper court proceedings.

XX. Role of affidavits of heirship and extra-judicial settlement

Employers often ask for:

affidavit of self-adjudication,
extra-judicial settlement,
affidavit of surviving spouse,
waiver by other heirs.

These documents are not mere formalities. They allocate risk.

Why employers ask for them:

to avoid paying the wrong person,
to document who assumes responsibility among heirs,
to avoid duplicate claims,
to protect against later contest.

Why heirs must be careful:

a false affidavit may create civil or criminal problems,
excluding an heir can trigger later litigation,
minors cannot simply be ignored,
disputed marriages or filiation should not be “papered over.”

XXI. Are siblings entitled?

Usually, siblings are not the first-line claimants in employee death cases.

For SSS:

They are generally not primary beneficiaries.

For estate-based claims:

They may inherit only under succession rules and only in the absence of preferred heirs or depending on the family structure.

Thus, a sibling may have no SSS claim yet may still assert an estate-related claim in limited circumstances.

XXII. Can parents still claim if the employee had children?

For SSS purposes, dependent parents are generally secondary beneficiaries. If there is a surviving qualified spouse or qualified dependent children, the parents usually do not take as primary SSS beneficiaries.

For estate matters, parental rights depend on succession law and the existence of descendants and spouse.

XXIII. What if the employee was unmarried and had no children?

Then the inquiry shifts.

Possible claimants may include:

dependent parents for SSS secondary benefits,
named beneficiaries in insurance,
heirs under intestate succession for estate claims,
siblings only in the appropriate succession context and absence of closer heirs.

XXIV. What about probationary, casual, contractual, project, or fixed-term employees?

Employment status does not automatically defeat SSS or final-pay claims.

If the person was an employee and covered by SSS:

SSS death benefits may still apply.
Final pay of accrued entitlements remains demandable.
Company policy benefits depend on whether coverage extended to that category of employee.

For project, agency-hired, or contractor arrangements, a threshold issue may be who the true employer was and who carried the legal obligations.

XXV. Agency-hired employees and contractor setups

If the employee was deployed by a contractor to a principal:

SSS registration and remittance obligations typically rest first on the direct employer,
but labor issues may also involve contractor-principal arrangements,
and liability questions can become more complex if there is labor-only contracting or violations of labor standards.

The family should determine:

who paid wages,
who remitted SSS,
who issued employment papers,
who controlled the work,
who insured the employee.

XXVI. OFW-related note

For overseas workers, additional rules and insurance frameworks may apply depending on the worker’s status and deployment arrangements. But where the worker remained an SSS-covered member, SSS death benefit issues still matter. Employer, agency, and insurance claims may also arise under separate OFW-related rules.

XXVII. Common mistakes made by heirs

Treating SSS benefits and employer claims as the same thing
Assuming the nearest relative can automatically receive everything
Ignoring illegitimate or minor children in documentation
Failing to obtain the actual company policy or insurance policy
Accepting oral representations without written breakdown
Letting the employer indefinitely “hold” final pay due to family conflict
Failing to preserve medical, accident, and employment records in work-related deaths
Assuming no claim exists because the employee had short service
Overlooking funeral benefit and EC claim
Signing waivers or quitclaims without understanding what is being released

XXVIII. Quitclaims, waivers, and releases

Families are sometimes asked to sign:

quitclaims,
release and quitclaim,
full settlement documents,
waivers of further claims.

These documents are not automatically invalid, but they are scrutinized. A quitclaim may be challenged if:

it was signed through fraud, coercion, or serious misinformation,
the amount paid is unconscionably low,
the family did not understand what rights were surrendered,
there was no real voluntary settlement.

No heir should assume that a receipt for final pay is harmless if it also contains a broad waiver of insurance, EC, or damage claims.

XXIX. Proof problems: what evidence matters most?

In death-benefit disputes, these are usually decisive:

PSA civil registry documents
employment records
SSS contribution history
payslips and payroll records
company handbook/CBA/benefit policy
insurance beneficiary forms
medical records and death certificate
accident reports, police reports, autopsy, if any
proof of dependency
proof of filiation
emails, memos, and HR communications
evidence of long-standing company practice

XXX. Special issue: employee died before regularization

Even a probationary employee may generate valid claims:

SSS benefits are tied to coverage and contributions, not regularization alone;
final pay of accrued salary and benefits remains due;
EC may apply if the death was work-related;
company benefits depend on eligibility language.

Regularization is therefore not the universal gatekeeper families sometimes think it is.

XXXI. Special issue: employee absent without leave or under investigation when death occurred

The employer may still owe accrued amounts unless there was a lawful basis to forfeit them. Mere pendency of an investigation does not automatically wipe out:

unpaid salary already earned,
statutory benefits,
SSS claims,
or insurance where coverage remained in force.

But unpaid accountabilities, fraud findings, and forfeiture clauses may complicate the final-pay calculation.

XXXII. Special issue: death after resignation notice but before effectivity

If the employee had tendered resignation but was still in service when death occurred, entitlement depends on the timing and nature of each benefit:

salary earned until death remains due,
accrued benefits remain due,
SSS beneficiary rights may still exist if the person remained a covered member,
company death benefits may depend on whether coverage existed on date of death.

XXXIII. Is court settlement always required before employer payment?

Not always.

For uncontested claims, employers often accept:

notarized affidavits,
extra-judicial settlement,
waivers from all heirs,
proof of authority.

But where there is a serious conflict among heirs, minors without proper representation, or disputed family status, court proceedings may become necessary.

XXXIV. What employers should legally do

A legally careful employer should:

determine all categories of possible benefits,
identify whether there is any company death gratuity or insurance,
compute final pay accurately,
ask only reasonable documents,
avoid releasing estate-type funds to the wrong person,
assist with SSS/EC paperwork when required,
preserve incident and payroll records,
avoid coercive quitclaims,
handle minors’ interests carefully,
communicate clearly in writing.

Failure in these can create additional liability.

XXXV. Practical framework for heirs: order of action

In Philippine practice, the most effective sequence is often:

1. Secure core documents

Death certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificates, IDs, employment papers.

2. Get the employer’s written breakdown

Ask for a written itemization of:

final pay,
company death benefits,
insurance,
pending reimbursements,
retirement/provident fund,
deductions.

3. Check SSS and EC separately

Do not assume HR has already processed everything.

4. Identify all possible claimants early

Especially spouse, children, dependent parents, and any named insurance beneficiary.

5. Avoid signing a broad release immediately

Read whether it waives only the amount received or all future claims.

6. Preserve work-related evidence

Especially if death may be compensable or due to employer negligence.

XXXVI. Bottom line

In the Philippines, the heirs or beneficiaries of an employee who died while still in service may have multiple independent claims, not just one. The most important distinction is between:

SSS beneficiary claims under social security law,
EC claims for work-related death,
employer-based claims under contract, policy, CBA, insurance, or practice,
and estate or final-pay claims governed by labor and succession principles.

The lawful spouse and dependent children usually stand first in SSS death-benefit analysis, but employer payouts and estate-based amounts may follow different rules. A company is not automatically required to pay a separate death gratuity in every case, yet it remains bound to release the deceased employee’s earned and vested benefits and any death-related benefits created by policy, contract, insurance, or law. Where the death is work-related, the family should examine not only EC benefits but also the possibility of broader employer liability.

Because these claims overlap but do not perfectly match, the strongest legal approach is to classify each entitlement correctly: SSS, EC, company benefit, insurance, final pay, or damages. Most disputes and lost claims happen when families treat them as one and the same.

XXXVII. Concise checklist of possible claims

For a private employee who died in service in the Philippines, the family should examine all of these:

SSS death benefit
SSS funeral benefit
EC death benefit if work-related
unpaid salary
pro-rated 13th month pay
unused convertible leave
accrued commissions/incentives
reimbursement claims
company death gratuity
group life insurance
accidental death insurance
retirement/provident fund benefits
CBA survivorship benefits
damages for employer negligence or safety violations
estate claims for unpaid receivables

That is the full legal map. The real outcome depends on three things: who the lawful claimants are, what documents exist, and what the actual source of each benefit is.