Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said the scope of the task the airline has ahead in redeeming itself should not be underestimated. Photo: Andrew McLaughlin.
The Federal Court has fined Qantas Airways $90 million for illegally sacking and then outsourcing nearly 1800 of its ground handling workers in November 2020.
The fine comes after the High Court found in September 2023 that the airline had acted illegally in sacking the workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and replacing them with contract workers, and an October 2024 Federal Court ruling that the airline should compensate those workers to the tune of $120 million.
In his ruling, Justice Michael Lee said the penalty must bear “some resemblance” to the maximum penalty he is allowed to levy of $121 million, and said $50 million of the fine would go to the Transport Workers Union (TWU), which had fought the case on the workers’ behalf.
He was also scathing towards the airline, which he said had “shown the wrong kind of sorry” during the hearings by worrying more about the impact of the case on the airline than on the workers. He said CEO Vanessa Hudson should have apologised for the company’s behaviour during the hearings instead of Qantas’s Chief People Officer, Catherine Walsh.
“I accept that Ms Walsh is a sincere and competent professional who will do her personal best to prevent a recurrence of contravening conduct,” Justice Lee said.
“As the person responsible for industrial relations, she now reports directly to the CEO.
“But given the extent of the cultural problem revealed by this case, I would have been much more persuaded [of] the genuineness of contrition if her evidence had been supplemented by a member of senior management who was present when the proposal was socialised and evaluated, and explained why things went so wrong, how they had been converted in new ways of doing things, and how lessons have been learnt,” he added.
“Time will only tell whether the undoubted good intentions of Ms Walsh will prevail. The scope of the task [is] not to be underestimated.
“The strategy adopted by Qantas at the compensation hearing rather suggested an industrial relations culture that has very deep, very deep roots, despite high-level representations of change following the departure of some key personnel in 2023.”
He said the airline had resisted until it could resist no more, and said its later expressions of genuine regret “more likely reflect the damage this case has done to the company rather than unique remorse for the damage done to the affected workers”.
The fine comes less than a year after Qantas was fined $100 million in the Federal Court for misleading customers by selling tickets on cancelled flights between 21 May 2021 and 26 August 2023.
While the latest fine fell short of the maximum amount the TWU had been calling for, it was significantly more than the $40 to $60 million the airline had argued for.
In a release following the judgment, the airline said it “accepts the Federal Court’s decision today on the penalty for unlawfully outsourcing its ground handling function in 2020”.
“Today’s judgment holds us accountable for our actions that caused real harm to our employees.”
Airline CEO Vanessa Hudson said she sincerely apologises to the 1820 ground handling employees and to their families who had suffered as a result of the sackings.
“The decision to outsource five years ago, particularly during such an uncertain time, caused genuine hardship for many of our former team and their families,” she said.
“The impact was felt not only by those who lost their jobs, but by our entire workforce.
“Over the past 18 months, we’ve worked hard to change the way we operate as part of our efforts to rebuild trust with our people and our customers. This remains our highest priority as we work to earn back the trust we lost.”
Following Justice Lee’s ruling, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers principal Josh Bornstein said the penalty meant Australian companies were on notice that the Courts would not tolerate such attacks on workers’ rights.
“This record-breaking penalty reflects the monumental scale of Qantas’ wrongdoing and the court’s concern that Qantas and the business community need to understand that calculated, mass violations of workplace laws may result in severe financial punishment,” he said.
“Qantas, under then Alan Joyce’s leadership, seized the opportunity presented by the COVID pandemic to realise its long-held aim to rid its operations of the TWU and its members working as baggage handlers and ground staff.
“This was a carefully planned and executed union-busting operation.
“Qantas worked for months on its plan to try to avoid an adverse outcome in a legal challenge,” he added.
“Qantas tried to hide the involvement of Alan Joyce in the plan. The plan fell apart once Qantas had to hand over documents and its executives were cross-examined in the Federal Court.
“The TWU have been fighting for years to hold Qantas accountable for these illegal sackings. With this decision, they’ve won a victory for all Australian workers.”
Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on Region Canberra.
