Registrar Contracts and Payroll Tips

Do you know your responsibilities as an employer of a GP-in-training?

WHY IS THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT IMPORTANT?

Employing a registrar is no different to employing any other member of your practice team – this is a legal process. Getting it wrong carries fines that start at $93,900.00.

So it is a responsibility to be taken seriously. A lot of people underestimate that legal responsibility and think they are doing the trainee a favour by offering them a placement in their practice. This could easily prove a very expensive mistake.

The NTCER is the overarching instrument of GP registrar employment, representing the intersection of GP training under the AGPT and the National Employment Standards that are enshrined under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

The employment contract captures all of the key elements of the NTCER.

Completing it correctly is essential because this is the first thing that anyone will refer to if there is a breakdown in the practice-registrar relationship. But completing the contract correctly has little effect if the agreed terms recorded in it are not accurately carried into the setup of your payroll software and/or your ongoing communications with your registrar.

In the NTCER Agreement updated for 2025.1, GPSA and GPRA use the terminology “fixed term contract” for the first time to describe the legal framework within which GP training sits in Australia. This is an important point at law which explains why two core principles of the National Employment Standards – parental leave and notice of termination – are not available in the NTCER.

One of the first terms to enter into the employment contract is the registrar’s commencement date at the practice. This is the date that the registrar starts to be paid for their weekly hours.

It is also important to note that the registrar’s orientation to the practice needs to be scheduled for no earlier than this date. 

The ordinary roster is an important element of the employment contract. This might be a standard weekly roster – say 7.6 hours per day Monday to Friday – or it could be a roster made up of 2 or more alternating weekly hours. Just make sure the average number of hours the registrar is rostered to work in any fortnight does not exceed 76.

Working out what the registrar’s weekly schedule will look like requires you to know when the registrar’s mandatory education will occur throughout the term of their employment.

Ask your registrar to forward those dates to you as soon as possible, or check with their training provider. Having access to this information in advance gives you the opportunity to minimise any inconvenience for the registrar’s patients via management of their appointment book, and for the supervisors for the registrar’s in-practice hours.

Make sure the practice’s expectation of the registrar’s participation in after-hours and on-call work is discussed and agreed in the recruitment process, and cemented in the contract – along with the way this work will be paid. Under the NTCER, after-hours work is treated as ordinary time.

Any after-hours or on-call shifts also have to factor in a 10-hour rest period between shifts. 

Who will be the registrar’s principal and alternate supervisor(s)?

Once you work this out, it needs to be captured and formalised in the employment contract.

If these supervisors are not practice principals or employees of the training site, then make sure that you actually confirm their availability through the entire term.

Did you know that the registrar has a right to ask for study leave to be included in their contract terms?

Do you know the practice is able to offer this as an unpaid entitlement in the registrar’s remuneration package? And equally the practice has the right to refuse this request entirely.

The registrar can ask for paid study leave too – what you would you say to that? Do you know your practice’s stance on study leave? 

There are two important components to capture under the Remuneration heading in the registrar’s contract: the base hourly rate and the total hours on their ordinary roster.

The NTCER sets out the minimum base hourly rates, but practices and registrars are free to negotiate above these rates. Also note the total hours on the ordinary roster will include weekends, after-hours and on-call shifts.

Date reviewed: 11 October 2024

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