Nurses and midwives who have worked for Ramsay Health Care may be entitled to backpay, after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found the healthcare giant had miscalculated payments on previously-taken annual leave. 

 The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association/Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (NSW Branch) took Ramsay to the FWC over a dispute regarding staff payments while they were on annual leave. 

The case centred on the interpretation of clauses within the Ramsay Enterprise Agreement, which dealt with the calculation of annual leave loading, shift payments and allowances while staff were taking annual leave. 

The Association argued that Ramsay had been miscalculating payments to staff while on annual leave due to a misinterpretation of the enterprise agreement.  

Ramsay argued that the clauses within the agreement were written ambiguously and should not be construed within the plain reading of the clauses.  

Fair Work Commission Deputy President Thomas Roberts, who adjudicated the case, rejected Ramsay’s approach to the clauses in question, and noted that “In my view, the construction advanced by the ANMF … is clearly correct. The starting point is the ordinary meaning of the text of the provision read as whole and in context.” 

Roberts also refused Ramsay’s application to redraft the clauses in question to remove their proposed ambiguity. 

Ramsay will have the right to appeal the judgement. The quantum and timeline for payments will be determined at a later date, with the two parties to meet before Christmas to discuss this issue.  

The full judgement can be read here.  

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