12.1 Employees shall be entitled to an annual base salary rate drawn from one of the salary scales in Clauses 12.4(a) and 12.4(b), below. The rates in these scales are for full-time employees with an agreed job size of 40 ordinary hours a week.
12.2 Advancement through Salary Scales
(a) The initial placement of an employee on the applicable salary scale shall be negotiated between the prospective employee and employer, in consultation with the clinical director (or equivalent) of the applicable service. To ensure maintenance of internal equity, placement of new employees shall take into account years of relevant experience and relevant qualifications, and align with the placement of the existing employed workforce with similar qualifications and experience.
The date an employee met the requirements for vocational registration (or its overseas equivalent) will be used to assess when an employee would have been first placed on the specialist scale (not the date when the employee was vocationally registered).
(b) Thereafter, advancement through the salary scales shall be annual, subject to satisfactory performance of the employee’s agreed duties and responsibilities.
For specialists the annual anniversary date shall reflect the anniversary of when the employee first met the requirements for vocational registration (or its overseas equivalent).
(c) If the employer begins to develop concerns that an employee’s performance may not justify advancement to the next step, those concerns must be raised with the employee in writing at the earliest practical opportunity before the due date of advancement to provide the employee with a reasonable opportunity to address them. An employee who is not notified of any such concerns before their due date shall be entitled to advance to the next step on their due date.
(d) An employee who is declined salary advancement may seek a review of that decision by a review panel whose members shall be agreed between the employer and the Association.
(e) Employees shall not be denied advancement if their failure to achieve satisfactory performance of agreed duties and responsibilities was due to factors beyond their control.
(f) In exceptional circumstances, subject to the agreement of the employer, a Medical or Dental Officer may be placed on the specialist scale.
(g) An employee placed on the Fellows scale will advance to the Specialists Scale on their first anniversary, per Clause 12.2(b), except that where such an employee becomes a Specialist before their anniversary (in terms of clause 11.3) they will be placed on the Specialist Scale immediately.
12.3 An employee’s actual annual salary shall be calculated by multiplying their ordinary hourly rate (as defined in Clause 11 of this Agreement) by the number of hours in their agreed job size for a full year. Provided that the method of calculating an employee’s actual annual salary (by using a system of “tenths” or “sessions”) as contained in the 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2006 collective agreement (refer Schedule 2 of that agreement) shall continue to apply to those employees for whom it is more advantageous until those employees’ job size is changed by mutual agreement, from which point the provision in Clause 12.3 for salary calculation shall apply.
12.4 Base Salary Scales
(a) Medical and Dental Specialists (including principal dental officers)
| Step | 4 April 2022 | 4 September 2023 | 1 January 2024 |
| 15 | 250,560 | 262,077 | 267,980 |
| 14 | 243,937 | 255,255 | 262,080 |
| 13 | 237,823 | 248,958 | 256,180 |
| 12 | 231,199 | 242,135 | 250,280 |
| 11 | 223,557 | 234,264 | 244,380 |
| 10 | 217,952 | 228,491 | 238,480 |
| 9 | 212,542 | 222,918 | 232,580 |
| 8 | 207,135 | 217,349 | 226,680 |
| 7 | 201,729 | 211,781 | 220,780 |
| 6 | 196,322 | 206,212 | 214,880 |
| 5 | 190,915 | 200,642 | 208,980 |
| 4 | 185,508 | 195,073 | 203,080 |
| 3 | 180,100 | 189,503 | 197,180 |
| 2 | 174,693 | 183,934 | 191,280 |
| 1 | 170,369 | 179,480 | 185,380 |
(b) Fellows (as defined at clause 11.5)
| Step | 1 January 2024 |
| Fellow | 179,480 |
(c) Medical and Dental Officers
| Step | 4 April 2022 | 4 September 2023 | 1 January 2024 |
| 14 | 195,800 | 205,674 | 210,933 |
| 13 | 190,705 | 200,426 | 205,683 |
| 12 | 185,508 | 195,073 | 200,433 |
| 11 | 178,208 | 187,554 | 195,183 |
| 10 | 173,072 | 182,264 | 189,933 |
| 9 | 168,205 | 177,251 | 184,683 |
| 8 | 163,069 | 171,961 | 179,433 |
| 7 | 158,203 | 166,949 | 174,183 |
| 6 | 153,066 | 161,658 | 168,933 |
| 5 | 148,200 | 156,646 | 163,683 |
| 4 | 143,064 | 151,356 | 158,433 |
| 3 | 138,198 | 146,344 | 153,183 |
| 2 | 133,872 | 141,888 | 147,933 |
| 1 | 129,547 | 137,433 | 142,683 |
12.5 Absence due to Approved Unpaid Leave
(a) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this clause, an employee on approved parental leave under Clause 28 of this Agreement shall receive their annual salary advancement on the due date, when it falls during the period of leave.
(b) Subject to meeting the threshold of satisfactory performance an employee is entitled to receive their annual salary advancement unless they have had more than six months of approved unpaid leave in the period under review.
(c) Employees who have had more than six months approved unpaid leave shall be paid a pro rata lump sum payment on their advancement date subject to satisfactory performance in the period worked.
(d) The pro rata payment will be calculated on the difference between their current salary step and the next step on the salary scale.
(e) Notwithstanding this provision, however, subject to meeting the threshold of satisfactory performance, employees are entitled to receive their full annual salary advancement if their unpaid approved leave is for the purpose of gaining further experience or professional development relevant to their duties and responsibilities.
12.6 Equal Pay
(a) Notwithstanding the above, no female employee shall in any case be paid less than the rate that would be paid to a male employee with the same, or substantially similar, skills, responsibility, and service performing the work under the same, or substantially similar, conditions and with the same, or substantially similar, degrees of effort.
(b) Following the Te Whatu Ora response to the national gender pay gap work for senior medical officers, the employer will audit salaries at least once per year to ensure that the principle in (a) above is being complied with.