Spouses of Deceased Google Employees Get Half of Salary for 10 Years
The Claim
Spouses of deceased Google employees get half of their spouse's salary for 10 years.
News posted on
Emerging story
Some on social media are reporting that spouses of Google employees will receive half of their spouses salary for ten years if the spouse dies. One post was liked over 600,000 times.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar discovered that the latest social media claims may be based on an article about spousal death benefits (often called survivor benefits) for Google employees that was reported by Forbes on August 8, 2012. According to the article, if a Google employee dies, that employee's spouse receives half the employee's salary for 10 years. Business Insider added that on top of the half-salary, the spouse will also receive stock benefits and children will receive $1,000 per month until they turn 19 years old.
The Google website does not provide exact details, but says that they provide generous death benefits. However, Levels.fyi, which compares different tech companies and appears to be current to 2021, shows Google life insurance benefits providing surviving spouses/partners with 50% income up to 10 years and children up to $1000 per month.
The social media claims appear to be true. Surviving spouses/partners of employees receive up to 50% of the employee’s income for up to 10 years and children will receive up to $1000 per month.
