NSW junior doctors class action

In Australia, the Superannuation Guarantee system requires an employer to pay superannuation on “Ordinary Hours”. Overtime is not considered ordinary hours; therefore, in the context of the Settlement Scheme, superannuation is not payable on the Unrostered Overtime or Rostered Overtime component. It is only payable on Unpaid Meal Breaks which are considered ordinary hours.

Superannuation on the Unpaid Meal Break component is calculated at the current rate of 12%.

Maurice Blackburn is required to make this payment into your Super Fund on your behalf, it cannot be paid 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 NSW Junior Doctors Class Action Settlement Scheme are considered wages and therefore taxable as ordinary income.

Maurice Blackburn is required to withhold PAYG from your distribution payments and remit that tax directly to ATO. A PAYG withholding rate of 39% has been applied to all Participating Group Member’s Distribution Payments. This standard withholding rate was sought by Maurice Blackburn to make the PAYG assessment and withholding process more efficient and cost effective. A 39% withholding rate was an estimate used for withholding purposes and is not the final rate at which you will be taxed.

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.

Your Remittance Notice contains all relevant information needed for you to obtain your own independent financial and taxation advice.

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

The process of confirming all registered Stafflink numbers and determining Eligibility (who is a Participating Group Member) is now complete. Using the confirmed Stafflink numbers, Maurice Blackburn requested, and NSW Health identified and provided, all available payroll and roster data within their systems.

The Claim Data that was provided by NSW Health to Maurice Blackburn falls into two broad categories:

1. Summary Claim Data
2. Detailed Claim Data

The Summary Claim Data contains:

• Start and end dates of each period of employment (for example 2 February 2015 to 2 February 2016)
• Position, classification and applicable Award
• Legal employer
• Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

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

The Claim Data and Eligibility Phase is now complete and there is no further opportunity to seek an Eligibility Review or amendments to Summary Claim Data.

Following the completion of the Claim Data and Eligibility Phase, Maurice Blackburn requested NSW Health provide the Detailed Claim Data for each eligible Stafflink Number.

The Detailed Claim Data includes the Payroll and Health Roster data for each eligible period of employment. For example:

• Shift type, date, start and end times
• Pay Scale
• Total amount paid per shift and whether the hours were treated as normal hours or overtime hours
• The number of minutes deducted from a shift for meal breaks

This Detailed Claim Data was used by Maurice Blackburn to calculate the estimated Distribution Payments in accordance with the Loss Assessment Formula contained in the Settlement Scheme (Annexure A).

The Claim Data is large and complex, in total over 30 million rows of data were received by Maurice Blackburn. The Settlement Scheme was not designed to calculate each Participating Group Member’s loss to the exact dollar but rather it was drafted to prioritise practical fairness and efficiency over impossible precision.

Read more about the nature and limitations of the Claim Data here.

Loss calculations have now been completed for all Participating Group Members in accordance with the Loss Assessment Formula (Settlement Scheme - Annexure A).  

In April 2026, each Participating Group Member was sent their Notice of Assessment which sets out their calculated entitlement to:

1. Unrostered Unpaid Overtime
2. Unpaid Meal breaks
3. Rostered Unpaid Overtime
4. Interest Weighting

Read more about your Notice of Assessment including the difference between the Total Estimated Loss and the Estimated Distribution Amount here.

Clause 7 of the Settlement Scheme provides that a Participating Group Member has a right to seek a Review of their Assessment (an Assessment Review).

In deciding whether to proceed with an Assessment Review it is important to understand the intention of the Settlement Scheme in relation to the assessment of claims and the application of the Loss Assessment Formula to the available Claim Data.

All Claim Data relied on by Maurice Blackburn has been provided by NSW Health. We have no alternative source of Claim Data.

It was explicitly acknowledged before the Court at the time of the class action settlement approval that given the complexities and limitations of the Claim Data, the Settlement Scheme should not be designed to calculate each Participating Group Member’s loss to the exact dollar. Such calculation is not possible based on the available Claim Data and would cause unreasonable delay and cost. 

The Settlement Scheme and Loss Assessment Formula prioritise practical fairness and efficiency over impossible precision. Where limitations in the Claim Data are identified Maurice Blackburn is to apply reasonable assumptions, estimates and averages.

Therefore, to proceed with an Assessment Review, you must have an alternate source of records or information to satisfy Maurice Blackburn that the assessment of your claim based on the Claim Data provided by NSW Health is incorrect. 

Find more information on Assessment Reviews, including the process and examples of what can and cannot be the subject of an Assessment Review here.