29 April 2020

The Federal Court of Australia is being urged to declare that Qantas is still responsible for paying sick leave to 25,000 workers who have been stood down during the global coronavirus pandemic.

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But Qantas is refusing to budge on the issue and...reiterated its long-held stance.

"Unfortunately, the devastating impact that travel restrictions have had on airlines means the majority of our employees are stood down and not receiving their regular income — whether that's normal pay or paid sick leave," a Qantas spokesman told the ABC.

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"Employees who are stood down are not eligible to receive paid sick leave because there is no work for employees to be absent from but they can access annual, long-service leave and other support."

The national carrier's position has infuriated the TWU, which has said that Qantas's position "cannot be accepted".

"If Qantas were correct that an employee has no ordinary hours during a stand-down period, no form of leave would be able to be taken during such a period," the union's lawyer Mark Gibian SC wrote in the submission.

"That is obviously not correct and not a position advanced by Qantas.

"The approach of Qantas cannot be reconciled with the [Fair Work] Act as a whole."

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