NSW junior doctors class action

As part of the registration process, all registrants were given the opportunity to review, confirm, correct or provide their Stafflink number(s).

Stafflink numbers are what NSW Health use to identify payroll and rostering data (Claim Data) linked to an individual within the NSW Health internal databases and systems.

Some people have more than one Stafflink number for their time working for NSW Health.

There are 15,442 Participating Group Members in the class action settlement and 15,475 eligible Stafflink numbers. 

All Stafflink numbers have been finalised and confirmed. In early 2025 NSW Health provided the Scheme Administrator with the Summary Claim Data linked to each Stafflink number. 

The Summary Claim Data contained:

• Start and end dates of periods of employment
• Position, classification and applicable Award
• Legal employer and Assignment details
• Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

The Summary Claim Data was used by the Scheme Administrator to determine if a registrant was eligible in accordance with the Settlement Scheme (a Participating Group Member).

You were sent your Notice of Claim Data and Eligibility and given an opportunity to review, confirm or seek a Claim Data Amendment.

The Claim Data and Eligibility process for all Participating Group Members, including those who sought a Claim Data Amendment, was completed in June 2025. There can be no further Claim Data Amendment requests or Eligibility Reviews.

Following the conclusion of the Claim Data and Eligibility phase, the Scheme Administrator requested the detailed Claim Data from NSW Health.

The detailed Claim Data includes the payroll and rostering data linked to each Participating Group Member’s Stafflink Number(s). This detailed Claim Data is used for the assessment of claims in accordance with the Settlement Scheme.

Read more about the Claim Data received from NSW Health and used for the assessment of claims here. 

The Scheme Administrator is currently undertaking the process of calculating each Participating Group Member’s Estimated Loss and Estimated Distribution Amount. We expect that this calculation process will be completed by early 2026 and Notices of Assessment will be sent to Participating Group Members in around March 2026.

Under the Settlement Scheme, Participating Group Members are entitled to compensation for:

1. Unrostered Unpaid Overtime
2. Unpaid Meal breaks
3. Rostered Unpaid Overtime

The Loss Assessment Formula (Annexure A to the Settlement Scheme) sets out the calculation methodology.

Estimated Loss - is calculated in accordance with the Settlement Scheme prior to the apportionment of the total compensation pool (i.e. before the pro-rata calculation)

Estimated Distribution Amount – includes your “In Hand Amount” as well as the amount of tax withheld and any superannuation contribution to be paid on your behalf. The Estimated Distribution Amount is your share of the total compensation available to Participating Group Members (i.e. after the pro-rata calculation). The compensation pool must be equally apportioned across all group members because the total of Estimated Loss for all group members is greater than the available compensation funds. All group members receive the same % proportion of their Estimated Loss. In other words, all group members receive a share of the available compensation that is directly proportionate to their share of the total Estimated Loss.

Your Notice of Assessment will provide a breakdown of your Estimated Loss and Estimated Distribution Amount.

Read more about the Loss Assessment Formula and calculation methodology here.

The Loss Assessment Formula provides for a weighting to be applied to the calculation of Unrostered Overtime. The weighting is an adjustment made to reflect the fact that less Unrostered Overtime was claimed by, and paid to, Participating Group Members before 2019 than after 2019 because of the introduction of new policies related to claiming Unrostered Overtime and the expansion of the categories of authorised unrostered overtime in the policy directives.

The Loss Assessment Formula also provides for an interest weighting to recognise that a Participating Group Member who is being compensated for underpayment of wages in the earlier part of the Claim Period has had to wait longer than a Participating Group Member who is being compensated for underpayment of wages in the later part of the Claim Period.

The interest weighting is applied to the calculation of all Estimated Loss for each calendar year of the claim period (2014 – 2024).

Read more about interest weighting here.

In Australia, the Superannuation Guarantee laws require superannuation to be paid on ordinary hours. Superannuation is not payable on overtime.

In the context of the Settlement Scheme, superannuation is payable on the Unpaid Meal Break component of a Participating Group Member’s claim and not on Unrostered or Rostered Overtime. The calculation of superannuation is provided for in the Loss Assessment Formula and will be set out in your Notice of Assessment.

If you are receiving a superannuation payment you will be asked to provide the Scheme Administrator with the details of your Super Fund. The Scheme Administrator is required to make this payment directly to your Super Fund, it cannot be made to you directly.  

Read more about how superannuation is calculated and the details you will be required to provide here.

Distribution Payments made under the Settlement Scheme are considered wages and therefore taxable as ordinary income.

The Scheme Administrator is required to withhold PAYG from your distribution payments and remit that tax directly to ATO. A PAYG withholding rate of 39% will be applied to all Participating Group Member’s Distribution Payments. A standard withholding rate was sought by the Scheme Administrator to make the PAYG assessment and withholding process more efficient and cost effective.

If a PAYG rate of 39% has resulted in too much tax withheld in your circumstances, you will receive a refund for the difference at the time you complete your next tax return, likewise if we have not withheld enough, you will have a tax liability at the time you complete your tax returns.

At the time you receive your Notice of Assessment you will be asked to provide your Tax File Number. If you do not provide your TFN, the Scheme Administrator will be required to withhold tax at the highest marginal tax rate (47%). 

Read more about how tax is calculated and how it will be assessed for previous years to account for varying personal tax rates here.