Abbotsford Medical Institute Pty Ltd – Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Abbotsford Medical Institute Pty Ltd (AMI) operates a private GP practice located in Abbotsford, Victoria. AMI has 26 employees working different roles:
1 director who is a GP (full-time);
12 further GPs (8 full-time, 4 part-time);
3 enrolled nurses (1 full-time, 2 part-time);
1 nursing assistant (full-time);
1 practice manager (full-time);
4 receptionists (all part-time);
3 medical typists (1 full-time, 1 part-time and 1 casual); and
1 payroll officer (part-time).

AMI does not have an enterprise agreement in place, and all staff are employed pursuant to the terms of their applicable modern award and an employment contract. In this regard, the GPs are not covered by an Award, while the nursing staff are covered by the Nurses Award 2010 and all administrative staff are covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020.
All staff at AMI were provided with an employment contract at the commencement of their employment. The contract includes, at clause 12, a term relating to compliance with AMI’s Policy and Procedure Manual which states “The employee acknowledges that they have read and agree to comply with the AMI Policy and Procedure Manual as amended from time to time.”
AMI’s Policy and Procedure Manual is a 120 page document, which covers various aspects of working at AMI, including AMI’s values, bonus structures for GPs, procedures for payroll and applying for leave, OH&S and patient privacy and confidentiality. It is provided to each staff member with their employment contract and it also available on the staff intranet.
In relation to patient privacy and confidentiality Section 8.1 of the Manual provides:
“AMI holds significant amounts of personal and sensitive information about patients, including health information. AMI and all staff are bound by various legislative requirements in relation to receiving, handling and disclosing this information. AMI takes patient privacy very seriously.
All staff understand and agree that they must keep comply with privacy obligations, keep all patient information confidential and only access and use patient information for work purposes.”
Renee has been a part-time receptionist at AMI since 4 January 2018. Her contract provides that she is to work 16 hours per week (8:00am to 5:00pm on Mondays and Wednesdays). Renee has two school aged children, including a son with a genetic condition which impacts on his lung development.
In July 2021, in response to the latest Victorian Stage 4 lockdown, Renee requested changes to her work hours to allow her to home school her children. In particular, Renee wrote to the Practice Manager, Chris, requesting that her hours of work be changed to 8:00am to 5:00pm on a Tuesday and to work from 11:00am to 8:00pm on a Wednesday. Renee’s email explained that the changes to her hours will allow her partner, John, and babysitter, Joan, to look after the children.
Chris is not happy with the request as it is inconvenient and will require her to rearrange the roster for other reception staff. Ultimately, after exchanging a number of emails with Renee to try to persuade her to retract the request, Chris approves the arrangement. The new flexible work arrangement comes into effect in mid-August 2021.
At the same time, Renee is very concerned about the possible impact that catching COVID-19 could have on her children, especially her son. Renee thinks that the best way to protect her children is to ensure that all people who come into contact with them are fully vaccinated. To this end, Renee wants to know whether her babysitter, Joan, is fully vaccinated but does not want to ask her directly. Joan is a patient at AMI and Renee decides to check Joan’s patient records to see if she has booked in for a COVID vaccine.
One day, Chris overhears Renee talking to another receptionist. Chris hears Renee say, “I think I am going to have to sack my babysitter. Her records say she isn’t vaxxed, and I don’t think I can have her arounds the kids.” Chris immediately pulls Renee aside and asks her whether she has been accessing patient records. Renee seems quite taken aback and responds “yes, but I haven’t told anyone outside the practice. I know that whatever I find out here doesn’t leave here.” Chris furiously tells Renee that this is a “very serious breach of privacy and a breach of our policies.” Chris then says, “you are stood down effective immediately and we will have to decide whether to terminate your employment.” Renee begins to protest that she didn’t realise that she had done anything wrong and other people have done this before but Chris marches her out of the practice.
The Victorian Medical Staff Union (VMSU) has been active in assisting administrative staff at private GP practices to bargain for enterprise agreements. The VMSU’s approach is to get all staff in the practice covered by the agreement because, in their experience, this results in the administrative staff getting much more beneficial terms. The VMSU has several members at AMI and a union official, Stefan, approaches AMI about negotiating for an agreement.
The Director of AMI, Dave, is happy enough to discuss an enterprise agreement so sends around an email to all staff which attaches a Notice of Employee Representational Rights. However, Dave is really concerned about having all staff covered by any agreement. He thinks that the medical staff work in a completely different way to the administrative staff, and he does not want GPs in particular, to be covered by the agreement. Dave gives this feedback to Stefan, who insists that the VMSU’s position is that all staff of AMI need to be covered by the agreement.
Stefan holds a meeting with the administrative staff to pass on Dave’s objections to the GPs being included in the enterprise agreement. Stefan tells the staff that they should insist on the GPs being included as it is likely to get them a better deal. Stefan tells the staff that, to try to pressure Dave into agreeing to the enterprise agreement, they should start working completely in compliance with the Policy and Procedure Manual and to also start double checking all patient details each time they speak to a patient. The medical typists also propose to have another staff member check the accuracy of all their typing before sending out letters. Stefan thinks that this will mean that staff are far less efficient in completing their duties and will mean that Dave is willing to agree to the proposed EA.
The next week, Dave begins to receive feedback from the GPs that the administrative staff are not getting through as much work and that medical letters are taking a long time to turnaround. Some of the nurses also tell Dave that they think that the reception staff and typists are on the “go slow” because of the agreement negotiations.
Dave is thinking about retiring soon and wants to make as much money as he can before he retires. He is therefore thinking about introducing some policy changes and new procedures at AMI with the goal of improving efficiency and profitability.

He is intending to introduce three changes:
The introduction of a new compulsory weekly all staff meeting at 7:30am on a Thursday so that workflow can be discussed and prioritised.
A new “gender equity” hiring policy to increase the number of men in administrative roles. In particular, Dave thinks that men are better workers and will take less leave, especially carers’ leave and parental leave.
Changes to the GP Bonus Policy to exclude the treatment of children under two from Key Performance Indicators going to the bonus scheme. Dave has reviewed the books and discovered that where patients under two are treated, these appointments are much more likely to be bulk billed and bulk billed appointments are less profitable.
Dave emails the staff about these proposals and has received some feedback. Some of the staff are concerned about their ability to attend a meeting so early every Thursday morning because they need to drop their children off at school or childcare. In relation to the changes to the GP Bonus Policy, two female GPs (Miranda and Jane) have been particularly vocal in their opposition. They both have practices targeted at paediatric care and are concerned that they (and the other female doctors who routinely see babies) are going to lose out on bonuses. They also know that lots of elderly people also bulk bill their appointments.

Question 1. AMI wishes to terminate Renee’s employment as soon as possible. They seek your advice as to the risks of termination and the best approach to take in doing so.
Question 2 AMI seeks your advice as to how they deal with their concerns about the VMSU’s proposed enterprise agreement and the rumours of the staff slow down. In particular, AMI has suggested that they simply offer all administrative staff a 2.5% pay rise to head off the negotiations.
Question 3 AMI seeks your advice about any risks of implementing the changes to the Policy and Procedure Manual under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).