Junior doctors in Victoria commence class action claiming systemic underpayment by public hospitals

An AMA Victoria survey last year found junior doctors were working an average of 16 hours overtime a week.

Legal action has begun on behalf of junior doctors, who say they have been deliberately underpaid after working overtime in Victoria's public health system.

Key points:

- Legal action has been filed against Peninsula Health for alleged underpayment of overtime

- Lawyers say they are planning to bring other class actions against services in the public system

- Some doctors say they are afraid to raise concerns for fear of upsetting their superiors.

A class action has been filed in the Federal Court against Peninsula Health, alleging the underpayment of a junior doctor.

Lawyers are planning to bring other class actions, amid claims of systemic underpayment by other health services in the public system.

Lawyer Hayden Stephens said some junior doctors were working up to 25 hours a week beyond their rostered hours, and many of those hours were unpaid.

"That, in combination with their own genuine concern that this will impact their care and ability to look after patients, together with their own mental health, are issues in which we are calling Victorian health services to address," he said.

Mr Stephens said the legal action could ultimately affect more than 10,000 junior doctors in Victoria.

"This is a claim for unpaid entitlements, it's not a claim seeking additional wages."

"It's nothing more than junior doctors employed in the Victorian health system being paid for their hours work and their fair entitlements, entitlements that have been agreed to by their very own employers."

In a statement, Peninsula Health's Chief Medical Officer, Shyaman Menon, said the organisation "respects the rights of all staff, including the receipt of any payments to which they are entitled."

"Our junior doctors are the future of our organisation and we acknowledge the important contribution they make across all our hospitals and healthcare sites," Dr Menon said.

Doctors reluctant to complain about overtime

Doctor Karla Villafana-Soto said she had been so exhausted after working overtime on shifts that she had made mistakes with medication and doses, that had luckily been caught by other staff.

She claims the underpayment of junior doctors for overtime they've worked is widespread in the public hospital system in Victoria.

"This is now my eighth year of being a junior doctor and I've worked at several health services in Victoria, and I can tell you this is happening everywhere," she said.

"The class action has come up really as a point of last resort after, for many years, many of us have tried to get this issue addressed, and it just hasn't been."

Dr Villafana-Soto claims junior medical staff are reluctant to raise concerns about underpayment for fear of getting their superiors offside.

"You learn very quickly that upsetting supervisors or hospital administration will possibly result in you possibly not getting a job the following year, because most of us are employed for 12 months at a time," she said.

The Victorian President of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation, Roderick McRae, said it was impossible to estimate the true cost of properly paying junior medical staff in Victoria's public health system.

"Everybody understands they're in the game to look after patients, so they're not going to down tools," he said.

"At the same time, there needs to be a reasonable balance and appropriate compensation when those events occur.

Legal action has been filed against Peninsula Health, which operates Frankston Hospital, for alleged underpayment of overtime.

The legal action is being supported by AMA Victoria, which is calling for more doctors to come forward and join the class action.

An AMA Victoria survey conducted last year found junior doctors were working on average 16 hours of overtime a week, mostly without pay.

Full story: ABC News

South Australian doctors explore class action for "wage theft" following NSW and Victorian actions

Junior doctors in South Australia are “strongly considering” launching a class action against SA Health for systemic “wage theft” over “unpaid overtime”, following similar legal moves interstate.

The SA Salaried Medical Officers Association has begun discussions with lawyers handling class actions in New South Wales and Victoria.

SASMOA chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland told InDaily “wage theft” was a major problem for overworked junior doctors and “not confined to the eastern states”.

“SASMOA is strongly considering taking similar legal action to recover wages for junior doctors,” she said.

“SASMOA is undertaking preliminary work and has spoken with the lawyers representing medical officers in NSW and Victoria for wage theft.”

Mulholland said “our investigations validate that wage theft for junior doctors is widespread in health”.

“These doctors are pressured to attend well before the commencement of their rostered shifts, do not get their meal breaks and work unpaid overtime,” she said.

“Hospital administrators know it happens but it is ignored.”

A class action was launched last week against a Victorian health service, amid claims of systemic underpayment of junior doctors.

It follows a class action launched in December on behalf of early career medicos in NSW against health authorities there, over “exploitative work conditions”.

Law firms Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and Hayden Stephens & Associates said the action was based on a claim for “underpayment of wages” for junior doctors.

“It is a claim to seek recovery of payment for the extensive unpaid overtime performed by doctors,” the lawyers said in a statement at the time.

Lawyer Hayden Stephens said the “no-win, no-fee” NSW class action could involve more than 10,000 junior doctors, many of whom were worried about patient safety “after being pressured to work unpaid overtime to the point of exhaustion”.

Mulholland said the problem had also been going on for too long in South Australia.

She said the union had surveyed members late last year on matters that should be addressed during the latest round of enterprise bargaining.

“The number one agenda item that trainee doctors raised was putting an end to ‘wage theft’, including a penalty imposed on the employer for breaching excessive hours worked by junior doctors and fatigue provisions,” she said.

Mulholland said one trainee doctor had stated in the survey: “There is significant destruction to the morale of the workforce too fearful to claim actual hours worked. Cost cutting always seems to pressure junior doctors, who are unable to assert themselves as they are reliant upon reports from those that sign their timesheets and are placed on annual contracts. Staff are continually coerced to not claim.”

The union has requested a specific clause in its new enterprise agreement “that junior doctors get paid for the hours they work”.

“This may seem silly to some but in an environment where you regularly do not get paid for the hours worked it is necessary to spell it out to the hospital administrators,” Mulholland said.

“Making junior doctors work well beyond a rostered shift has implications for patient care and results in fatigues and low morale.”

A spokesperson for SA Health said: “Negotiations for a new SA Health Salaried Medical Officers Enterprise Agreement have commenced and without prejudice discussions are taking place between Department of Treasury and Finance (as the declared employer), SA Health and SASMOA.

“These discussions will be guided by principles of fairness and accountability.

“Medical Officers are highly-valued members of our workforce and it is our intention to progress with negotiations in a timely manner, ultimately delivering a package that supports Medical Officers and the wider system to continue to deliver high quality health services.”

Health Minister Stephen Wade said “we are aware that these matters are being discussed as part of negotiations for a new enterprise agreement”.

“We support doctors getting paid for the work that they do,” he said.

Full story: InDaily