Qantas to pay hefty fee for illegal sackings

Qantas has been ordered to pay nearly $200,000 to three workers after the airline was found guilty of illegally firing 1700 workers during the Covid pandemic.

The Federal Court ruled in 2021 that the embattled airline had acted unlawfully when it sacked the ground services employees in 2020 and outsourced their roles to contractors at a cheaper rate.

Qantas’ attempts to overturn the guilty verdict were unsuccessful, and the matter returned to the Federal Court on Monday to determine compensation for the airline’s former workers.

The fight for compensation was launched by the Transport Workers Union, whose members represented 716 of the 1700 illegally fired staff.

The union argued Qantas should have to pay “many millions of dollars” after being found guilty of the largest case of illegal sackings in Australia’s corporate history.

Yet Qantas contended the payout should be mitigated because the employees would have lawfully lost their jobs the next year anyway due to the crippling impact of Covid on the travel industry.

Justice Michael Lee ruled that three of the fired members of the TWU should receive nearly $200,000 as a test case before full compensation is determined.

The members will receive $30,000, $40.000 and $100,000 each in recognition of the noneconomic loss they’ve suffered as a result of being illegally let go.

Justice Lee ordered the parties to return to court in November to determine the final amount of compensation.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said workers deserved to be compensated for the “hell Qantas put them through” during four years of court proceedings.

“The TWU took on Australia’s biggest corporate bully at a time workers were told they were just a casualty of the pandemic. In reality they were victims of a systematic attempt by Qantas to decimate the pay and conditions of its workforce,” he said.

“It’s astounding that Qantas attempted to argue it should not pay a dollar of compensation to workers it illegally sacked to prevent them accessing workplace rights.

“It was an added kick in the guts after the pain and suffering the airline has caused to these workers and their families.”

Mr Kaine welcomed Justice Lee’s decision as “justice” for the fired workers and their families.

More to come