Victorian junior doctors win $173m in landmark unpaid overtime settlement

After years of fighting for fair pay, thousands of Victorian junior doctors are set to receive a landmark $173 million settlement for unpaid overtime from public hospitals.

Victoria’s public hospitals have been ordered to pay a record $173 million to thousands of junior doctors, bringing an end to their long-running battle for unpaid overtime following a landmark legal victory.

Last week, the Federal Court of Australia formally approved the settlement, clearing the way for an estimated 12,800 Victorian junior doctors to finally recover wages owed for years of unrostered and unpaid overtime.

The court also approved the establishment of a Settlement Distribution Scheme, which is expected to commence in the coming weeks.

Hayden Stephens, director of Hayden Stephens & Associates, described the Victoria settlement as a historic achievement, noting that a wage underpayment class action of this size and scale has never been seen in the state.

“We’ve just seen history in the making. Never has Victoria seen a wage underpayment class action of this magnitude,” Stephens said.

“This final successful step at court is a great milestone for all involved, but most importantly, to those brave doctors who refused to stay silent and stand up for what was right”.

The five-year legal battle, led jointly by Gordon Legal and Hayden Stephens & Associates, encompassed 30 separate class actions against 36 Victorian health services.

The first of the 30 class actions began in March 2021 in the Federal Court of Australia, when lead plaintiff Dr Gaby Bolton and the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (ASMOF) filed a case against Peninsula Health.

Following the initial filing, ASMOF pursued additional class actions against dozens of public hospitals, culminating in an in-principle agreement with the state government.

Gordon Legal and Hayden Stephens & Associates announced that claim assessments for over 12,500 registered participants will start in early 2026, with eligible members set to receive compensation between mid and late 2027.

Dr Gaby Bolton, the lead doctor of the first class action to run to trial in the Federal Court in 2022, stressed that the victory “wasn’t just about the money” but, more importantly, about earning “dignity and recognition”.

“I got involved to make sure junior doctors’ excessive hours were better understood and fairly compensated. Above all, I wanted us to be working safer hours, which is not only better for us but crucial for our patients,” Bolton said.

Andrew Grech, partner at Gordon Legal, shared that these cases have exposed deep-rooted systemic issues within the healthcare system and could help prevent such behaviour in the future.

“Excessive overtime and underpayment have been a prolonged systemic problem. These cases and others like it around the country will hopefully represent a seismic shift in the way junior doctors are treated in their workplace,” Grech said.