Health Minister Jerome Kennedy says he was within his rights to reveal salary information about a St. John's specialist. (CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister has dismissed claims that he breached a senior St. John's physician's privacy by disclosing specific details of her income.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association on Tuesday accused Jerome Kennedy of breaking privacy laws by revealing the amount of Dr. Julia Trahey's stipend during a media briefing late Monday afternoon.

"For example, Dr. Julia Trahey receives a $95,000 stipend in addition to her salary as a result of her clinical duties at Eastern Health," Kennedy said.

Kennedy volunteered the information while insisting that salaried physicians who resigned en masse last Friday are poised to receive a pay increase of 31 per cent over four years.

The physicians say the raise still leaves them far behind their colleagues — particularly fee-for-service specialists, some of whom received a massive increase in 2008 — and does not address overwhelming workload issues.

In another development, Eastern Health stripped Trahey Tuesday of her responsibilities as clinical chief for patient safety. The authority said it was responding to problems that Trahey cited with her workload.

Dr. Pat O'Shea said the NLMA would like an investigation into whether Kennedy breached provincial privacy laws. (CBC)

Speaking about the privacy issue, NLMA president Pat O'Shea said Kennedy crossed a line.

"I think the minister is trying to play the money game, and we knew this was going to happen," O'Shea told reporters.

"He is trying to persuade the public that doctors are greedy, that they are getting tons of money."

But Kennedy all but brushed off the criticism. In a statement late Tuesday afternoon, Kennedy said the public has a right to know the salary details of the physicians who have resigned, effective February.

"This particular group of physicians made compensation a very public issue and government has an obligation to ensure that the public has full details," Kennedy said in the statement.

While the information about Trahey's stipend would likely have been made public if a formal request had been made through provincial access to information legislation, Trahey would have been notified in such a case before the information was revealed.

O'Shea said privacy rights may have been violated because there was no request and no notification.

"The NLMA is preparing a brief to the privacy commissioner, alleging that there has been wrongdoing done by Mr. Kennedy," he said.

Ed Ring, Newfoundland and Labrador's privacy commissioner, told CBC News that salary information of public employees can be made public.

However, without a formal investigation surrounding this case, Ring could not say conclusively if Kennedy broke the law.