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Because we overrule Park v. Rockwell International Corp., 121 N.H. 894 (1981), the touchstone case relied upon by the trial court, and uphold the constitutionality of the challenged death benefit provision of the Workers’ Compensation Law, see RSA 281-A:26, IV (1999), we reverse and remand.

Laws 1959, 187:4; see Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 896, 436 A.2d 1136, 1137 (1981).

See, e.g., Gould v. Concord Hospi *526 tal, 126 N.H. 405, 409, 493 A.2d 1193, 1196 (1985) (invalidating two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death actions under former version of RSA 556:11); see also Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 899, 436 A.2d 1136, 1139 (1981) (equal protection guarantee extends to State’s granting of privileges as well as to its imposing of restrictions).

Equality of benefit is no less required than equality of burden.” Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 899, 436 A.2d 1136, 1139 (1981) (quotations omitted).

Laws 1947, 266:10; see Park v. Rockwell Int'l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 896, 436 A.2d 1136, 1137 (1981).

rights of action are supplemented by the statute.’” Young, supra at 87-88, 534 A.2d at 717 (quoting Park v. Rockwell International Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 898, 436 A.2d 1136, 1138 (1981)).

Estabrook v. American Hoist and Derrick, Inc., 127 N.H. 162, 498 A.2d 741 (1985); Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 436 A.2d 1136 (1981).

In Estabrook, three justices of this court narrowly applied a quid pro quo test alluded to in a due process discussion in Park v. Rockwell International Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 898, 436 A.2d 1136, 1138 (1981).

See, e.g., Laws 1947, 266:10 (requiring employee to elect not to be covered by the statute and, instead, to retain common law right of suit); Laws 1959, 187:4 (conclusive presumption of employee’s election of benefits); Laws 1978, ch. 46; Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 895-96, 436 A.2d 1136, 1137-38 (1981).

at 666-67, 406 A.2d at 706-07; cf. Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 898-99, 436 A.2d 1136, 1138-39 (1981) ($1,200 limit on damages for burial expenses of decedents without dependents in workers’ compensation cases invalid); Carson v. Maurer, 120 N.H. 925, 941-44, 424 A.2d 825, 836-38 (1980) ($250,000 limit on damages for noneconomic losses in medical malpractice cases.invalid).

The plaintiff instituted a wrongful death action, RSA 556:12, against the defendant pursuant to the election permitted by Park v. Rockwell International Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 900, 436 A.2d 1136, 1140 (1981).

At most, we might invoke the requirement that the restrictions imposed by the statute “must be reasonable, not arbitrary, and must rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation.” Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920), quoted in Park v. Rockwell Int'l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 899, 436 A.2d 1136, 1139 (1981).

Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 900, 436 A.2d 1136, 1140 (1981) (King, C.J., dissenting); see also Estate of Cargill v. City of Rochester, 119 N.H. 661, 669, 406 A.2d 704, 708 (1979).

Although this court has been critical of statutes limiting the recovery of tort victims, see, e.g., Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 900, 436 A.2d 1136, 1139-40 (1981); Carson v. Maurer, 120 N.H. 925, 939-44, 424 A.2d 825, 835-38 (1980), we cannot say that prohibiting suits against co-employees is an “unrepealed remnant of a bygone age,” Clark v. Clark, 107 N.H. at 355, 222 A.2d at 209, or that the rule “lies in the backwater of the modern str

.” We have held that this statute “clearly prohibits an employee from maintaining a common-law action against his employer for personal injuries arising out of the employment relationship.” O’Keefe v. Associated Grocers of N.E., Inc., 120 N.H. 834, 835-36, 424 A.2d 199, 201 (1980); but see Park v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 121 N.H. 894, 900, 436 A.2d 1136, 1140 (1981).