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Overtime practices adopted by employees without authorisation can take on "a life of their own", a lawyer warns following a class action ruling that has "broad" implications for employers.

The class action decision found an employer gave "implied" authorisation for a group of junior doctors to perform overtime "regularly and extensively", and as a result, they were entitled to have their underpayments rectified.

Kingston Reid special counsel Brad Popple says there was "no question in this case" that the employer had protocols in place for obtaining authorisation for overtime, and that the employees had failed to follow them...