Peninsula Health appeals Federal Court decision ruling it breached Fair Work Act by underpaying its junior doctors

A doctor owed more than $8000 in overtime is “extremely disappointed” her former employer is refusing to pay her back despite a historic class action win over wage theft in the Federal Court. Peninsula Health is appealing a decision made in August that found it had breached the Fair Work Act in underpaying its junior doctors between 2015 and 2021. The lead applicant in the class action, Gaby Bolton, had argued she’d been underpaid $8,345 for overtime worked in 2019 and 2020 at Frankston Hospital when she was a trainee doctor. The ruling found the hospital had failed in its duty to properly recognise the overtime performed by Dr Bolton during four rotations as a junior doctor. Justice Mordecai Bromberg in August found the central issue was whether under the relevant enterprise agreement was authorisation to work overtime implied or did it need to be expressed by seniority. He ruled authorisation could be given in an implied way. However, Peninsula Hospital will return to the Federal Court on Wednesday to appeal the original ruling. Dr Bolton told NCA NewsWire she wasn’t surprised to learn her former employer had chosen to appeal the ruling but it was “extremely disappointing” more money would be wasted on legal fees instead of paying doctors properly. “I was obviously relieved and I think everyone felt very justified when the ruling came out,” Dr Bolton said. “For me personally this has been going for many years now. It’s been many years of going back and forth combing through my rosters and pay at that time. “We’re not asking for more money, just the money we’re owed for the work we’ve done.” More than 1500 junior doctors also joined the class action ruling, the first of its kind against a government health authority, in a bid to push for their rightful pay. Dr Bolton, now an anaesthetic registrar at a different hospital, started her career at Frankston Hospital in Melbourne’s southeast. She said she decided to lead the class action after speaking with her colleagues, of all ages, and found out how systemic the issue of underpaying staff was at Peninsular Health. “This has been going on for decades and decades,” she said. “Many generations of doctors in the Victorian Health system have consistently (been underpaid) and over the entire system the number one failure was to recognise they are working this overtime, and they’re not paying them. “This (legal action was an) opportunity to do that in a more organised manor.” Victorian president of Australian Medical Association, Jill Tomlinson, said Victorian patients are depending on a hospital system that is built on shaky foundations that are already showing signs of crumbling. “Victoria’s junior doctors have been battling a brutal culture and terrible conditions for decades and it’s time to put that era to an end,” Dr Tomlinson said. “Our health system relies on burnt out doctors working unpaid overtime to keep it running – that’s simply no longer sustainable. “When 60 per cent of junior doctors have admitted to making a clinical error due to extreme fatigue, it’s little wonder that so many are considering leaving the profession.” Dr Bolton said underpaying junior doctors puts a strain on the system, as her colleagues end up working extra hard to make some more money which leads to exhaustion. “At the end of the day we do it for our patients, and if money is the only language is spoken, it puts pressure on our health system and it puts patients at risk,” she said. “My unit has been extremely supportive but I have colleagues who are not in a privileged position, and are working a lot more hours than I did. “People are working incredibly exhausting rosters but also illegal rosters, they work all day and are on call all night and not given the time off. “I’ve seen colleagues in the hospital since 5am the day before and it was about lunch time (before the left) – that is illegal.” Victorian president of Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation, Roderick McRae, slammed the Victorian Government for pushing ahead with the appeal. “The hypocrisy is breathtaking,” Dr McRae said. “Here we have a government that has consistently condemned others for committing wage theft yet has allowed one of its largest health authorities to steal wages from its own frontline workers. “It’s staggering that, during a cost-of-living crisis, a government would prefer to waste huge amounts of money on potentially pointless legal action rather than simply investing that money in the junior doctors that are so crucial to our health system.” Peninsula Health and Victoria Health declined to comment as the matter remains before the court.