2012 Contracts: Tips to check accuracy
What is your contract for?
Your contract only defines the period of your employment and binds you to hospital policies and procedures. This is because the AMA DIT Agreement 2008-2012 is the federal legal benchmark defining all of your entitlements that can not be undermined. When your signed contract provides for a classification or benefit above the AMA Agreement, this is binding on your hospital until contract expiry. Read the DiT Agreement here.
Is your 2012 classification correct?
2011 HMOs and Registrars remaining in the same classification stream for 2012:
Your HM pay code number (referenced in your 2012 contract) must advance by one point. This shows that you are receiving your correct experience increment. (Note: classification “year” levels are not an accurate reference for DiTs currently employed in Victoria as HMO or Registrar. Each year check your HM number instead).
HMOs moving to Registrar classification for the first time:
Registrar – 1 HM25 is the correct classification
Registrar Annualised Salary Contracts
In 2010, “annualised salaries” and “rolled up rates” were replaced by Individual Flexibility Agreements (IFAs). Under federal law, IFAs can not be offered as a contract ‘sign on’ condition. After being employed, the choice falls to the Registrar as to whether to accept an IFA or continue under the AMA DiT Agreement 2008 – 2012.
Under clause 9. of the AMA Agreement, an IFA can only be offered with written calculations proving the “rolled up” amount is at least one dollar more than what is guaranteed under the AMA Agreement. The variability of on-call, re-call, some penalties and unrostered overtime means that a hospital’s ability to prove its IFA is legal will often be a tricky proposition. To read more about annualised salaries and IFAs click here.
When is the next pay increase?
There is no such thing as a “CPI increase”, there is only AMA Victoria’s negotiated annual pay increases and AMA’s protection of annual experience increments (both derived through the AMA DiT Agreement 2008 – 2012).
In 2008, AMA fought off hospitals’ attempt to take increments away from DiTs and negotiated between a 15 and 17.5 percent pay increase. The last instalment of the increases has just been paid (on the first pay period on or after 1 October). To check you are being paid correctly utilise the Wage Calculator. This has now been updated to reflect the new pay rates.
Why my classification is not what I anticipated?
The below highlights the four most common reasons why a DiT might be offered a classification that was less than expected (but nonetheless still be compliant with the AMA DiT Agreement 2008 - 2012)
1. If the HMO performed “higher duties” as a Registrar under clause 36 of the Agreement during 2011, that service is not the same as being classified as a Registrar. Rather, “higher duties” is a penalty compensating for the higher level contribution (just like, for example, night shift is a penalty for compensating for disruption). As a result, the “higher duty” period can not be counted as Registrar experience qualifying for a 2012 Registrar classification. To read more about higher duties payment click here
2. If the DiT has, at some point in the past, been advanced in their classification compared to the AMA Agreement, in subsequent years a hospital is not obliged to recognise and continue that advancement. Sometimes, multiple years of advancement occurs until a hospital offers only what the AMA Agreement requires.
3. If the DiT worked for only part of the previous 12 months there would be insufficient experience to qualify for a 2012 increment advancement. A DiT is required to work for a 12 month period under the AMA Agreement’s definition of “experience” (c10.9)
4. If, over a 12 month period, the DiT worked 24 hours of less on average per week there is insufficient experience to qualify for a 2012 increment advancement under the AMA Agreement’s definition of “experience” (c10.9.1)
To have your contract reviewed or for further information on any of the above, DiT
members should contact the Workplace & Advocacy Unit at (03) 9280 8722.
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