"AUSTRALIAN AIRLINE QANTAS FOUND TO HAVE BREACHED FAIR WORK ACT BY TERMINATING WORKERS AND OUTSOURCING ROLES", 19 Sep 2023

Last week, the High Court of Australia ruled that airline Qantas had illegally sacked nearly 2,000 former ground crew during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ruling upheld two prior judgements by the Australian Federal Court and Full Court of the Federal Court, which found the airline had taken unlawful adverse action...

[T]he Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) commenced proceedings in the Federal Court alleging that Qantas made its decision (at least in part) because it knew that the relevant employees would soon become eligible to engage in enterprise bargaining and take protected industrial action...

While the Federal Court accepted Qantas’ evidence that financial pressures (with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic) were a significant motivator in its decision, it also found that one of the substantial and operative reasons for the decision was, in fact, Qantas’ desire to prevent the employees from exercising their workplace rights.

Qantas appealed the decision of the Federal Court to the Full Court of the Federal Court. However, the Full Court upheld the initial decision.

Qantas appealed the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, arguing that the prohibition on taking adverse action relates only to workplace rights that exist at the time the adverse action is taken, not future or potential workplace rights.

While the High Court acknowledged Qantas had ‘valid commercial justifications’ for its outsourcing decision, it ultimately agreed with the Federal Court that Qantas had chosen to outsource its baggage handlers and cleaners to avoid industrial action. 

Qantas says it will move swiftly to compensate the nearly 1,700 workers...

Lawyers for the TWU have indicated they will seek the maximum AUD 100 million (USD 64.6 million) penalty, and the court will factor in economic losses, including redundancy payments already made and wages foregone, as well as mental suffering in deciding compensation, potentially amounting to tens of thousands per worker...