Australian airline Qantas has been fined with a record $90 million fine for illegally sacking ground staff during the pandemic
Australian airline Qantas has been fined with a record $90 million fine for illegally sacking ground staff during the pandemic
Australia’s largest airline, Qantas Airways, has been ordered by a court to pay a record $90 million ($58.6 million) for illegally sacking 1,800 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Federal Court sharply criticising the airline for a lack of contrition.
Federal Court Judge Michael Lee described the penalty—the largest ever imposed on a company under Australia’s labour laws—as necessary to ensure it “could not be perceived as anything like the cost of doing business.” He also condemned Qantas’ litigation strategy and public relations approach.
“I accept Qantas is sorry, but I am unconvinced that this measure of regret is not, at least in significant measure … the wrong kind of sorry,” Lee said, noting that the airline’s later expressions of regret appeared more focused on the reputational damage to the company than on harm to workers.
Of the fine, $50 million will go to the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), which brought the case against Qantas. TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said, “Against all the odds, we took on a behemoth … that had shown itself to be ruthless, and we won.”
The court ruling comes after a December agreement on a compensation fund of $120 million for the sacked staff. During the pandemic in 2020, Qantas’ senior management decided to lay off 1,820 ground staff and shift their work to contractors—a move the Federal Court in 2021 ruled as “adverse action,” violating the Fair Work Act by preventing staff from exercising workplace rights and unionising.
Lee criticised Qantas for immediately appealing the 2021 decision without considering the 431-paragraph judgment, and for issuing public statements that “spun” the outcome while ignoring findings of unlawful conduct. He also highlighted the airline’s refusal to have its CEO, Vanessa Hudson, testify in court.
“It is one thing for the ‘Qantas News Room’ to issue press releases by a CEO saying sorry; it is quite another for written assertions of contrition, recognition of wrong and cultural change to be tested in a courtroom,” Lee said.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, representing the TWU, called the penalty “record-breaking,” reflecting the “monumental scale of Qantas’ wrongdoing.” Labour law expert Shae McCrystal said the ruling sends a clear message: “It signals to employers that if they break the law, trade unions may receive penalties to assist them in enforcing the act.”
Qantas has said it will pay the fine. “We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families,” CEO Vanessa Hudson said.
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