Junior doctors in Canberra worried that unpaid overtime was putting themselves and their patients at risk. They have now reached a settlement with the ACT government.
Former junior doctor Betty Ge says some of her colleagues had regularly done between 10 and 15 hours of unpaid overtime per week.
Dr Ge was one of the litigants in the case, which has paved the way for 2,200 junior doctors employed in the ACT over the past eight years to receive repayment for their unpaid overtime. "By working all those hours, prolonged working hours, can cause mental burnout for a lot of our doctors and we can certainly see the attrition in our workforce.''She hoped the news of the settlement would ensure the next generation of young doctors could be confident about undertaking placements at Canberra's public hospitals.
"This requirement imposed upon doctors to stay back to perform these tasks has been very much accepted behaviour at both Calvary and Canberra for a number of years," Mr Stephens said.Mr Stephens said some senior doctors encouraged junior staff to do the extra work without complaint, as they had done early in their careers.
Canberra Local News Local Underpayment Underpay Unpaid Overtime Wages Class Action Doctors Junior Doctors ACT Government Settlement Betty Ge Rachel Stephen-Smith Leanne Castley
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