As you know, ASMOF Victoria and junior doctors, with support from AMA Victoria, have advanced class actions against a number of Victorian health services for the systemic failure to pay doctors in training for their overtime.

This is important work undertaken as a last resort to ensure doctors receive their basic legal entitlements in accordance with the enterprise agreements agreed to by the health services.

In June 2022, a four-week trial of the lead applicant’s personal claim in the class action against Peninsula Health was held. In August 2023, the Court delivered judgment in favour of ASMOF Victoria and the lead applicant.

In 2024 a further trial on the question of penalties was held. Penalties are akin to a fine. They are ordered by the Court to deter employers from engaging in similar conduct again.

On Thursday 31 October 2024 the Federal Court delivered judgment on penalties, ordering that Peninsula Health pay ASMOF Victoria a penalty of $316,260 for its failure to pay the lead applicant for her overtime. This is a significant amount, representing a strong rebuke of Peninsula Health by the Court.

In its judgment the Court made pointed observations including that:

• “Peninsula Health was prepared to expressly and brazenly instruct junior doctors to perform unpaid work.”
   
• the evidence was sufficient to demonstrate “a highly irresponsible attitude by Peninsula Health to its obligations to pay for unrostered overtime that it authorised be worked.”
   
• there is evidence suggesting that insufficient funding of our public health services is part of the problem, which the Court labelled irresponsible.
   
• there is a “dearth of evidence that Peninsula Health has taken action of significance to ensure” that the underpayment of doctors in training does not continue.

The next phase in the Court process in the Peninsula Health class action will be a hearing to determine the process for the resolution of group member claims. Separately, the class action against the next health service, Eastern Health, will be prepared for trial.
 

What happens next?

Mediation is scheduled to take place on 17 January 2025 held between ASMOF Victoria, the brave individual lead applicants, all Victorian health services and the State Government.

While we are hopeful that mediation will result in a global settlement that resolves the claims against all Victorian Health services, if mediation fails, we are prepared to continue the fight in Court to protect the rights and working conditions of doctors in training.

While we take no pleasure in engaging in litigation, we have been left with no alternative. We continue to wait for the health services and the State Government to engage with us on reasonable terms, and we urge them to follow the examples set in NSW and the ACT where significant settlements have been recently achieved, avoiding the need for trial.

It is time for the State Government to intervene and do the right thing by Victorian doctors in training.
 

How you can help

As we continue to push for an outcome in these matters, we encourage you to share this article amongst your colleagues. The more informed Victorian doctors in training are about these issues, the better.

We also encourage you to register your interest in the class actions with our lawyers, Gordon Legal. You can register here: Junior Doctors Class Action.

Registration is confidential and will allow you to receive updates. It also allows our legal team to contact doctors in training privately if they require information that might assist them in negotiations.