Sacked while the world was burning, Qantas workers closer to winning compensation
Qantas workers retrenched during the COVID-19 pandemic are one step closer to receiving significant compensation for the unlawful activities of the national airline.
The Transport Workers’ Union has pursued Qantas in the Federal Court after the company decided to outsource almost 1700 ground staff jobs in November 2020.
After redundancies commenced, these employees were eventually all jettisoned out of the airline by March 2021.
On Monday, Justice Michael Lee ordered Qantas pay $170,000 to three employees who were used as test cases during a lengthy hearing in March and May.
In July 2021, the judge found the lay-offs were designed to deprive workers of being able to bargain for a new enterprise agreement and, as such, contravened employment law.
The amounts these workers receive is hoped to form the basis for the total amount that Qantas agrees to pay the affected staff in future negotiations with the TWU.
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Justice Lee found that the workers would have been retrenched by late 2021 anyway given that the airline “laser-like” focus on cutting costs without regard for its employees.
The matter will return to court on November 15, when the judge will hear submissions about the total compensation sum payable by Qantas.
The TWU is also seeking penalties against the airline.
In December 2021, Justice Lee rejected a bid by the union to have the workers reinstated at Qantas after finding that proposal was impractical.
The judge’s findings that the terminations were unlawful were unsuccessfully appealed by Qantas in the Full Federal Court and High Court.
