Simon Quilty: Outback doctor sues NT Govt over 15,000 hours of unpaid overtime in Katherine and Alice Springs

An Outback doctor — and brother of famous Australian artist Ben Quilty — is suing the Northern Territory Government over more than 15,000 hours of unpaid overtime.

Simon Joseph Quilty, who spent a decade providing specialist medical care in Indigenous communities, launched a civil action against the NT Government in the Federal Court last month.

Court documents obtained by The Nightly reveal the employment and industrial relations dispute relates to 15,267 hours of unpaid overtime the senior specialist physician performed between 2014 and 2022.

The NT Department of Health employed Dr Quilty in various roles including senior registrar, specialist clinician and senior specialist clinician at Katherine and Alice Springs hospitals between 2012 and 2022.

Court documents reveal that between August 2017 and August 2019, Dr Quilty was employed as a specialist clinician which had a starting salary of $194,801 per annum.

In August 2019, Dr Quilty entered into a five-year contract for the role of senior specialist clinician with a starting salary of $240,482 per year.

The doctor, a PhD candidate at Australian National University, resigned from that role in November 2022.

During his career with NT Health, Dr Quilty held senior leadership roles that included leading the COVID team from the early days of the outbreak and director of physician training for registrars rotating through the Alice Springs Hospital.

He undertook specialist training with the Royal Australian College of Physicians and was the Central Australian Health Services research lead.

Dr Quilty’s statement of claim alleged that between March 2014 and December 2021 — a period of just under seven years — he worked 15,267 of unpaid overtime on top of his rostered 38 hours per week.

This equates to about 42 hours of unpaid work performed per week.

According to court documents, these additional hours were spent performing duties including work in hospitals, providing clinical advice by telephone and performing call backs.

Dr Quilty claims that according to enterprise agreements in place for medical officers in the NT public sector, he was entitled to be paid a higher duties allowance when directed to perform all or part of the duties of a higher classification, overtime payments for working more than 38 hours per week and un-rostered overtime payments for performing additional duties on weekends and public holidays outside of his normal working hours.

“During the term of employment, the applicant worked overtime, including overtime while performing higher duties, on weekdays, the weekend and on public holidays, when placed on immediate roster, first roster, home duty restrictions/clinical advice by telephone and unrostered overtime,” the claim said.

Dr Quilty claims that in not paying him for the overtime he performed, the NT Government breached his employment contracts, the enterprise agreements and contravened sections of the Fair Work Act 2009.

“As a result of the respondent’s breaches and the respondent’s contraventions, the applicant has suffered loss in the form of not receiving monetary payments he was entitled to be paid for the overtime he worked or the ability to accrue interest on the money he was entitled to be paid,” the statement of claim says.

Dr Quilty, who is being represented by Darwin-based lawyer Alanna Grimster of Piper Grimster Jones Lawyers, is seeking damages and compensation of an unspecified amount with the quantum to be provided closer to trial.

The NT Government, represented by Ward Keller Lawyers, has not yet filed its defence to the claim.

Dr Quilty’s LinkedIn profile says he was the “first-ever remote-based specialist in the NT” as a physician at Katherine Hospital.

“Over eight years, I drove significant improvements to the acute care and outreach programs of the hospital and facilitated commencement of seven new accredited medical training positions,” he wrote.

“These changes led to very substantial savings and carbon emissions reductions.”

Since resigning from NT Health, Dr Quilty has relocated to Tennant Creek, where he is chief executive officer of the Wilya Ajjul Janta Aboriginal Corporation.

Its website says Wilya Janta is an innovative Aboriginal not-for-profit cultural consultancy that promotes community agency in the design and construction of housing in Indigenous communities.

Dr Quilty’s matter will return to the Federal Court in Adelaide on September 18 for a case management hearing. A trial has been set down to start on June 23 next year.