A new law passed in Parliament yesterday will raise maximum insurance payouts for work-related injuries, and require around 300,000 more workers to be covered.

The Work Injury Compensation Bill 2019 raises the maximum compensation amount from Jan 1 next year by 10 per cent - to $225,000 for death and $289,000 for total permanent incapacity.

All non-manual employees earning up to $2,600 a month will need to be covered by work injury compensation insurance, not just those working in factories and earning below $1,600.

Among other things, the new law will also see employees placed on light duties due to work injuries receiving medical leave wages for up to two weeks.