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.
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.
In a statement, Qantas apologised to the affected employees and promised to “expedite” the payments.
“The Qantas Group today apologises to former ground handling employees and accepts the Federal Court’s ruling on compensation, and will work to expedite the payments,” the airline said.
”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,” Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Hudson said.
“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.”