ASMS TE WHATU ORA SECA

This Agreement applies to members of the Association who fall within the coverage clause of this Agreement.

Senior medical and dental officers are a distinct, vocationally trained, occupational employee group. The employer benefits from these employees having significant influence in their internal decision-making. The parties recognise that both senior medical and dental officers and the employer have different roles, responsibilities and distinctive features.

Both the Association and the employer are committed to working together to establish and strengthen this engagement with and empowerment of senior medical and dental officers.

Both the Association and the employer recognise that a relationship between the employer and senior medical and dental officers based on constructive engagement between them and empowerment of the latter has positive benefits for both recruitment and retention of employees.

This collective agreement is the foundation document for this underlying engagement and empowerment relationship between the employer and senior medical and dental officers which is integral to the internal culture of the employer.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

(a) The employer and the Association acknowledge the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the constitutional basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown, and the unique status of Māori as tangata whenua of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

(b) The employer and the Association are committed to implementing Te Tiriti o Waitangi between Māori and the Crown and will promote and enable an understanding of the principles and their implementation in the workplace.

(c) The parties obligations include:

(i) Developing a good understanding of the needs and aspirations of whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities, including through building awareness of the aims of He Korowai Oranga – the Māori Health Strategy and the Māori Health Action Plan.

(ii) Developing the capability (skills, knowledge and behaviour) required to engage meaningfully with Māori.

(iii) Developing within a supporting environment, knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Ao Māori and how this applies in the context of the work we do and the communities we serve.

(iv) encouraging the development in, and the promotion of, Te Reo Māori.

Employee well-being

The parties acknowledge that employee well-being is important and may impact on the efficient and effective delivery of health services, patients’ treatment outcomes, patient safety, employees’ ability to meet the accepted professional standards of patient care and employees’ clinical practices. Accordingly, pursuant to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the employer and the employee agree to take reasonable steps to protect employees against harm to their health, safety, and welfare by eliminating or minimising risks arising from work and to promote employees’ well-being.

1.1 The parties acknowledge the fundamental importance of the need to promote and establish distributive clinical leadership within the workplace consistent with the principles of engagement in the Time for Quality agreement between the Association and all District Health Boards (refer Clause 2) and the associated need to establish effective employer-employee partnerships, based on good faith, mutual respect and constructive engagement.

1.2 Accordingly the parties will actively promote and encourage open discussion and collegial and collective responses to workplace challenges and issues.

1.3 Employee participation in the employer’s annual and strategic planning is essential for achieving patient centred care. Employee engagement, in conjunction with other appropriate employees not covered by this agreement in strategic and service planning is necessary including about:

• Patient and whanau centred care
• Effective utilisation of resources including team work
• Complexities of the planning process

1.4 The parties recognise that employees are constrained by their ethical and professional obligations and public expectations not to refuse treatment to patients in need of their professional skills.

1.5 The parties acknowledge the increasingly demanding environment in which employees are required to practise. Accordingly the parties undertake to do what they reasonably can to ensure the workplace is well resourced, professionally supportive and conducive to a very high standard of clinical practice.

3.1  This is a collective agreement, inclusive of the attached Appendices and Schedules, negotiated under the provisions of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

3.2  It sets out the core terms and conditions of employment for all senior medical and dental officers who fall within its coverage clause.

3.3  It provides the minimum terms and conditions of employment that underpin each employee’s job description and any additional terms and conditions of employment that may be or have been negotiated and agreed between an employer and employees on an individual or group basis.

3.4  The terms and conditions of this collective agreement replace all terms and conditions of previous collective agreements except those specifically stated in this document (eg, long service leave, retiring gratuities).

3.5  Any other agreement between an employer and one or more employee(s) that provides for terms and conditions of employment that are as favourable or more favourable in respect of that employee or those employees is hereby deemed to be not inconsistent with this Agreement.

4.1 The parties to this Agreement shall be:

(a) The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, referred to in this agreement as “the Association” or “the union”, and

(b) Te Whatu Ora / Health New Zealand, referred to in this agreement as “the employer” or “an employer”:

4.2 Each of the following health entities, as defined in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022, may subsequently become a party to this collective agreement with the agreement of those already party to the agreement, and with the agreement of the party joining the agreement:

(a) Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority)

(b) New Zealand Blood and Organ Service (NZBOS)

Other employers may become party to this agreement with the agreement of all parties.

4.3  This Agreement shall be binding on the parties to it and all employees who fall within its coverage clause who are members of the Association.

4.4  This Agreement will apply to any new entity established as a successor to an employer party (per Clause 4.1).

This Agreement applies to:

Registered medical or dental practitioners employed by any of the parties to this agreement, provided that coverage shall be further limited to such medical or dental practitioners:

• whose duties include the practice of medicine or dentistry, as defined from time to time by law or the Medical or Dental Councils of New Zealand; and
• who are required as a condition of their employment to hold a current practising certificate;

Other than any medical or dental practitioner (as defined above) who is employed as a house surgeon, house physician or registrar. However, registered medical or dental practitioners employed as senior medical or dental officers who are completing their vocational training are entitled to be covered by this Agreement.

The employer acknowledges the role of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists as the representative of employees who are covered by the agreement and who are members of the Association, for all purposes relating to the negotiation, interpretation, application and enforcement of this agreement.

8.1  The parties accept that there may be provisions within this Agreement or that circumstances may arise during its term that warrant the negotiation of a variation to the Agreement prior to its expiry date.

8.2  Any subsequent variation will not take effect until it is recorded in writing and signed by the Association and the affected employer party.

9.1  The parties acknowledge that an essential feature of any employment relationship is that it is based on mutual trust and confidence and fair dealing between the parties.

9.2  The parties undertake to behave towards one another in a manner that will maintain and strengthen such trust and confidence and fair dealing.

9.3  In particular the employer undertakes to be a good employer and will provide the resources and support reasonably necessary to enable the employees to discharge their obligations under this Agreement.

9.4  For their part, the employees covered by this Agreement undertake to apply themselves diligently and conscientiously to the discharge of those obligations.

10.1  This Agreement replaces the previous applicable collective agreement which expired on 31 March 2023.

10.2  This Agreement shall come into effect on 1 September 2023 and shall expire on 31 August 2024.

10.3  Unless otherwise agreed, the parties undertake to begin negotiations for a replacement agreement not later than one month before the expiry date of this agreement.

13.1  An employee’s hours of work and job size shall be mutually agreed and shall objectively reflect the requirements of the service and the time reasonably required for the employee to complete their agreed duties and responsibilities, as set out in their job description.

13.2  An employee’s job size is the average weekly number of hours the employee is required to undertake:

(a)  routine duties and responsibilities, including such scheduled activities as out-patient clinics, theatre lists and departmental meetings;

(b)  non-clinical duties and responsibilities [refer to Clause 48.2(d)];

(c)  duties at locations other than the usual workplace; and

(d)  rostered after hours’ on-call duties, including telephone consultations and other relevant discussions.

13.3  Payment for Rostered After Hours On-Call Duties

(a)  Employees shall be paid at their ordinary hourly rate for any duties and responsibilities falling within category (a), (b) and (c) of Clause 13.2 above and at time-and-a-half their ordinary hourly rate for any duties and responsibilities falling within category (d) above.

(b)  Where an applicable previous collective agreement provided higher hourly, or equivalent, rates than those specified above in this Agreement, those higher rates will continue to apply for all employees employed by that employer.

(c)  In those former district health boards where higher hourly, or equivalent, rates in the previous applicable single employer collective agreements apply for current and new employees are Waitemata (double the ordinary hourly rate) and Bay of Plenty (triple hourly rate of Step 1 of Clause 12.4(a) or Step 1 in Clause 12.4(c) above, as applicable).

(d)  In the event that an employee(s) is already receiving additional remuneration for rostered after-hours on-call duties from an employment agreement not covered by Sub-Clauses (b) and (c) above, it is not the intention of the parties that the employee(s) will be paid twice for these duties.

13.4  Absence of Resident Medical or Dental Officers

(a)  In situations when employees are requested to undertake additional duties arising from the immediate and unexpected absence of a resident medical officer or dental officer the following arrangement shall apply. The parties acknowledge that such occasions will be rare but when they do occur the parties agree that the employee concerned shall be paid for that additional work at a premium hourly rate calculated on Step 6 as a minimum of the specialist salary scale divided by 2,086 and multiplied by 2.

(b)  This clause shall only apply in circumstances where a resident medical officer is normally on duty and not in circumstances where a resident medical officer is not usually employed by the employer or where the impact of the absence of the resident medical officer is minimal and/or can be covered by another medical officer or resident medical officer.

(c)  Where employees currently receive payment through job sizing to cover absences of resident medical officers then no additional payment under this clause shall be made.

Note: This clause only takes effect when the situation as described occurs.

13.5  An employer and the Association may agree upon an alternative system of remuneration combining rostered after hours call duties (Clause 13.3) and the availability allowance (Clause 14) which shall be incorporated into an agreed memorandum of understanding.

13.6  Recovery Time

Services that operate a shift system or an after-hours’ call roster are expected to have agreed arrangements in place that allow an employee to have an adequate break without deduction from full pay before commencing work following periods of on call related work or shift work where the employee is too fatigued to safely undertake their next scheduled activity.

13.7  Flexible and Predictable Work Hours

• Employees may at any time request a change in their working arrangements.
• An Employer will not unreasonably withhold its agreement to such a request.
• The employer will prioritise requests that are based on well-being concerns

For the purposes of this clause working arrangements includes (but is not restricted to) particular duties, hours of work, days of work, place of work, and the degree of flexibility or predictability of such terms.

14.1  An employee on an after-hours’ roster shall be paid an availability allowance in accordance with Schedule 1.

14.2  The level of the allowance shall take into account the frequency of the call, the immediacy of the required response, the immediacy required for attendance at work, and the availability and experience of resident medical and dental officers.

The employer may agree to provide additional benefits, including a personal allowance, to any employee who has special skills or responsibilities within a service or who makes a special contribution to their profession or to the employer.

24.1  Holidays Act

The parties confirm the right of employees covered by this Agreement to be paid in accordance with Section 50 of the Holidays Act 2003 for working on a public holiday.

24.2  Public Holidays

(a)  Employees shall be granted leave on full pay on any of the following public holidays or any days “substituted” by law:

• New Year’s Day
• The day after New Year’s Day
• Waitangi Day
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• ANZAC Day
• Sovereign’s Birthday
• Matariki
• Labour Day
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day
• Provincial Anniversary Day.

(b)  An employee may be required to work or to be available (i.e. on call) to work on any of the listed public holidays (or substituted days) provided that such employees will be granted a full day in lieu, without loss of pay, on a later mutually convenient date.

24.3  Public Holidays Falling During Periods of Paid Leave or on a Day Off

(a)  When a public holiday or substituted day falls during any period of annual leave, the public holiday shall not be debited against such leave.

(b)  When a public holiday or substituted day falls on a day when the employee is undertaking approved professional development and education, the employee shall be granted a full day in lieu, without loss of pay, on a later mutually convenient date.

(c)  A shift worker who has a rostered day off on a public holiday or substituted day shall be granted a full day in lieu, without loss of pay, on a later mutually convenient date.

(d)  An employee shall not be entitled to payment for a public holiday or substituted succeeding day falling during a period of leave without pay unless the employee has worked during the fortnight ending on the day on which the holiday is observed.

(e)  An employee shall, during a period of reduced pay, be paid at the same reduced rate for public holiday or substituted succeeding days falling during the period of such leave.

Employees shall be given three months’ notice of termination of employment and shall give three months’ notice of resignation or retirement.  This period of notice may be reduced or extended by agreement between the employer and employee.  The employer may summarily terminate the employee’s employment for serious misconduct.

The employer will ensure that services are supported to take tangible steps to have succession planning in place to replace employees resigning or retiring from that service. Alongside this, individual employees will have access, on request, to relevant transition to retirement planning advice and support.

46.1  The employer recognises the right of employees to engage in private practice but not in such a way that would give rise to a conflict of interest.

46.2  Employees exercising this right shall not knowingly allow it to affect adversely the performance of their contractual obligations with the employer. On request the employee shall advise the employer of either their intention to commence private practice or that they are undertaking private practice work.

46.3  Before the employee does anything that might compete against the material interests of the employer, e.g. compete against the employer for contestable funding, the employee shall consult with the employer in an effort to avoid a conflict and reach agreement on the matter.

46.4  The parties accept that in the absence of their reaching an agreement in respect of any possible conflict of interest, legal remedies are available to them, including the option of termination of employment.

50.1  The parties’ acknowledge the right of an employer to develop its own internal policies and procedures. However such policies and procedures are not incorporated within this agreement and to the extent that there is any inconsistency between an employer’s policies or procedures and a provision of this agreement, the provision of this agreement will prevail.

50.2  Employees are entitled to have reasonable access to their personal file held by the employer who will advise them of any significant amendments.

51.1 Applicable processes & guidance, including restorative processes, should be operating to deal with complaints of inappropriate behaviour and relationship issues between staff if appropriate.

51.2 On occasion an employee or group of employees may require professional support through collegial mentoring, confidential counselling, professional supervision, coaching or debriefing after adverse events. The employer will provide or support the provision of suitable services and support by agreement.

51.3 The employer will ensure appropriate access to confidential occupational health services as required.

51.4 The parties are committed to working together to mitigate the risks of workplace violence and aggression. The employer will ensure that preventative risk mitigation strategies, processes and protocols are in place to support staff who may be affected by physical and/or verbal abuse.

51.5 The employer will provide vaccinations or refund the costs of vaccinations where employees are at risk of transmission of disease or illness from other employees, patients or patient whānau/family members/support persons in the course of their New Zealand work

Where the employer has good reason to be concerned that an employee’s performance of their duties and responsibilities may be affected by their health, the employer is entitled to require the employee to undergo a medical examination by a mutually agreed medical practitioner(s) who may, where necessary and subject to the provisions of the Privacy Act, report to the Medical or Dental Councils.

The provisions of the following Acts, or any Acts passed in substitution for these Acts, shall apply:

• Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003
• Accident Compensation Act 2001
• Domestic Violence ‐ Victims Protection Act 2018
• New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000
• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
• Health Sector (Transfers) Act 1993
• Holidays Act 2003
• Hospitals Act 1957
• Human Rights Act 1993
• Income Tax Act 2007
• New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
• Official Information Act 1982
• Privacy Act 1993
• Smoke-free Environments Act 1990
• Wages Protection Act 1983
• KiwiSaver Act 2006

56.1  The parties are committed to negotiated outcomes. If a negotiated settlement for a claim for a collective agreement has not been arrived at, the parties agree that either party may refer disputed matters to the Mediation Services for mediation and that the parties agree to participate in the mediation process in a genuine attempt to reach a settlement.

56.2  If a dispute still remains which cannot be resolved by either negotiation or mediation, before considering strike or lock-out action, as applicable, the parties will meet to consider a possible adjudication process to resolve outstanding issues.

This clause sets out how employment relationship problems are to be resolved.

57.1  Definitions

(a)  An “employment relationship problem” includes:

• a personal grievance
• a dispute
• any other problem relating to or arising out of the employment relationship but does not include any problem with the determination of new terms and conditions of employment.

(b)  A “personal grievance” means a claim that an employee:

• has been unjustifiably dismissed; or
• has had their employment, or their conditions of employment, affected to their disadvantage by some unjustifiable action by the employer; or
• has been discriminated against; or
• has been sexually harassed in their employment; or
• has been racially harassed in their employment; or
• has been subjected to duress in relation to membership or non-membership of a union.

(c)  A “dispute” is a disagreement over the interpretation, application or operation of an employment agreement.

57.2  Notice Period

If an employee wishes to raise a personal grievance they must raise the grievance with their employer within 90 days of the date of the action alleged to amount to a personal grievance occurring or coming to the notice of the employee whichever is the later.

If the personal grievance is that an employee has been sexually harassed in the employee’s employment, the grievance must be raised within 12 months (instead of 90 days).

57.3  Raising Employment Relationship Problems

(a)  Any employment relationship problem, should in the first instance be raised by the employer with the employee or the employee with the employer as soon as possible.

(b)  The employee and/or the employer are entitled to seek advice and assistance from their chosen representative in raising and/or discussing the problem.

(c)  If the employee wishes to raise the employment relationship problem with the employer in writing or the matter is not resolved when the employee raises the problem with the employer, the employee should submit to the employer written notice of the personal grievance, dispute or problem, covering the following points:

• details of their grievance, dispute or problem;
• why he/she feels aggrieved; and
• what solution he/she seeks to resolve the grievance, dispute or problem.

(d)  The employee and the employer shall meet to discuss and attempt in good faith, to resolve the employment relationship problem.

57.4  Mediation

(a)  Where the employment relationship problem is not resolved by the parties in discussions, the employer or the employee may, without undue delay, seek the assistance of the mediation service division of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The parties may agree to use an alternative mediation service.

(b)  Both parties must co-operate in good faith with the mediation service in a further effort to resolve the problem.

(c)  The employee and employer acknowledge that the service provided by the mediation service is confidential and if it does not resolve the problem is without prejudice to the parties’ positions.

(d)  Any settlement of the problem agreed to by the parties and signed by the mediator will be final and binding.

57.5  Employment Relations Authority

If the problem is not resolved by mediation, either party may refer the problem to the Employment Relations Authority for investigation and determination.

57.6  Employment Court

If either party is dissatisfied with the determination of the Employment Relations Authority it may appeal the Employment Relations Authority’s determination to the Employment Court.