QANTAS: Will pay millions to workers it illegally sacked

The Federal Court of Australia has provided a judgement on three ground-handling employees illegally sacked by Qantas in 2019. The court has already determined that the sacking was illegal. This decision is a ‘test case’ to determine how much the 1,700 workers will be compensated for the illegal action.

Punitive damages as well as lost wages

The Federal court also determined that the workers are eligible for up to a year’s wages since they would have been terminated within a year anyway, even if the illegal action did not occur. Consequently, they are entitled to a year’s wages. But, the most interesting aspect is the punitive damages the court has determined.

In a ‘test’ case, the court decided on three of the workers who were sacked and determined that they should receive AU$30,000, AU$40,000, and AU$100,000 as damages, on top of the years’ worth of lost wages. Each of the ‘test’ subjects had different circumstances. The awards are regarded as providing the minimum (AU$30,000) and indicative maximum (AU$100,000) for the punitive payouts. Exact payments are still to be negotiated between Qantas and the ground staff’s union, the Transport Workers Union.

How much will this cost Qantas?

Taking an average of the amounts awarded, it looks like Qantas could be up for around AU$96 million. That’s just in punitive damages plus the wages of 1,700 ground staff for a year. That will make the total Qantas is liable for something closer to the AU$300 million mark. That will probably nix the savings they made through outsourcing the workers to private contractors.

Current CEO Vanessa Hudson has been far more gracious about the decision than her predecessor. I can’t see former CEO Alan Joyce, being this gracious.

“We sincerely apologise to our former employees who were impacted by this decision and we know that the onus is on Qantas to learn from this. We recognise the emotional and financial impact this has had on these people and their families. We hope that this provides closure to those who have been affected.”

Vanessa hudson, CEO Qantas

2PAXfly Takeout

Hudson promises that the negotiations about final payments will be swift and in accordance with the compensation principles that the court has set.

Importantly, Qantas has taken on board the Federal Court’s finding that:

‘while there were valid and lawful commercial reasons for the outsourcing, it could not rule out that Qantas also had an unlawful reason – namely, preventing employees from participating in protected industrial action and participating in bargaining for an enterprise agreement.

Qantas statement

At the risk of labouring a point. I can’t see such a statement being made if Alan Joyce was still leading the airline.

For the sake of the workers, let’s hope negotiations are expeditious.

This is the last substantial misstep under former CEO, Alan Joyce that needs to be rectified. Remember Ghost fights and travel credits?