All wages earned by an employee, not exceeding $10,000, shall, upon the employee’s death, become due and payable to the employee’s surviving spouse, or if there is no surviving spouse, the dependent children, or their guardians or the conservators of their estates, in equal shares, to the same extent as if the wages had been earned by such surviving spouse or dependent children. As used in this section, ‘wages’ means compensation of employees based on time worked or output of production and includes every form of remuneration payable for a given period to an individual for personal services. [Amended by 1971 c.448 § 1; 1981 c.594 § 1; 1997 c.52 § 1]

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