GPs who see employment benefits such as holiday pay withheld from out-of-hours work could be eligible to reclaim sums following changes at an employment tribunal, Pulse reports.
Three GPs ‘recouped a significant sum’ of holiday pay, according to BMA Wales.
The GPs were working in a self-employed capacity for OOH services run by a health board, but have since challenged this classification.
In the latest newsletter from the BMA’s sessional GP subcommittee, authors warned that there may be ‘many’ sessional GPs working OOH who do not receive holiday pay: “Recently in Wales the BMA supported a member in their dispute with their health board over holiday pay not being granted. The member had encouraged two colleagues in the same service who were also not receiving holiday pay to contact the BMA.
“This allowed the BMA to support three members in bringing a collective case to the employment tribunal, which eventually led to a significant sum of holiday pay recouped by the member and the two colleagues.”
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, wrote: “This is a wonderful demonstration of how the BMA can support sessional GPs, and also of the fortitude and tenacity of our colleagues who will clearly have been through a highly stressful and time consuming experience, to ensure they received their proper employment rights, and set a precedent for other sessional GPs in the same position.
“Managing out-of-hours services, with their demanding contractual obligations and high-risk performance expectations, are not without their complexities. But services’ workforce is their most important asset, so when mistakes are made, it’s always best to make immediate apologies and make appropriate reparation, not try and hide behind lawyers and subject staff to the sort of experiences our colleagues have just been through.”