Work injury compensation law to take effect in September 2020

About 300,000 more employees will be covered under the insurance.

The Work Injury Compensation Bill 2019 has now been passed in Parliament and will be effective in September 2020, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced.

Through the act (WICA), all employers’ past claims data will be made available to all designated WIC insurers, so that employers deemed to have good safety records will have lower premiums, whilst those with poor safety records would face higher premiums.

The act will cover around 300,000 more employees under mandatory work injury compensation insurance from their employers, which will be updated based on trends in wage growth and medical expenses.

Employees prescribed with light duties because of work injuries will also receive higher compensation for lost wage, at the same level as what they would receive on medical leave.

Additionally, compensations will be made at the first opportunity six months from the date of accident. Before, around a fifth of permanent incapacity claims took longer to resolve due to time taken to make the assessment.

The law is also set to streamline claims processing to insurers. As of now, WIC insurers handle all temporary incapacity claims whilst MOM processes death and permanent incapacity claims, which was noted to cause delays.

Related subsidiary legislation amendments are slated to take effect on January 2020.