§ 154-c. Managerial or confidential survivor's benefit; special education fund. 1. The term "managerial or confidential employee" as used in this section shall mean a full-time employee or officer in the executive branch of the state whose position is designated managerial or confidential pursuant to article fourteen of this chapter, civilian state employees of the division of military and naval affairs in the executive department whose positions are not in, or are excluded from representation rights in, any recognized or certified negotiating unit, officers and employees excluded from representation rights under article fourteen of this chapter pursuant to rules and regulations of the public employment relations board, officers and employees whose salaries are prescribed by section nineteen of the correction law, officers and employees whose salaries are provided for by paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section two hundred fifteen of the executive law, and employees in positions in the professional service in the state university which are designated, stipulated or excluded from negotiating units as managerial or confidential as defined pursuant to article fourteen of this chapter.

2. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, a survivor's benefit for a managerial or confidential employee shall be paid in an amount of fifty thousand dollars in the event that such employee dies subsequent to April first, nineteen hundred eighty-five, as the result of an accidental on-the-job injury or disease, provided that it is finally determined by the appropriate federal authorities that a public safety officer's death benefit is not payable pursuant to sections three thousand seven hundred ninety-six through three thousand seven hundred ninety-six-c of title forty-two of the United States code and provided further that a death benefit is paid pursuant to the workers' compensation law. Such survivor's benefit shall be paid to the employee's surviving spouse and children in the same proportion as the death benefit provided by the workers' compensation law is paid. For the purposes of this section, the employee's surviving spouse and children shall be the persons designated as such by the workers' compensation board. In the event that the employee is not survived by a spouse or children, the survivor's benefit shall be paid to the estate of the employee. Such survivor's benefit shall be in addition to and not in place of any other survivor's or death benefit payable on behalf of such employee, except that such benefit shall not be payable if a public safety officer's death benefit is payable pursuant to sections three thousand seven hundred ninety-six through three thousand seven hundred ninety-six-c of the United States code.

3. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the state shall provide the child or children of such employees for whom a survivor's benefit is paid pursuant to subdivision one of this section, with full tuition up to the amount charged by the state university, to attend any accredited college or university within this state provided, however, such child or children meet the entrance requirements of such college or university. Such child or children are those who are designated by the workers' compensation board to receive a death benefit pursuant to the workers' compensation law.