Australia’s Federal Court has ordered Qantas Airways to pay a record A$90 million ($58.6 million) for unlawfully dismissing 1,800 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering the largest penalty ever imposed under the country’s labour laws.
Justice Michael Lee said the fine was intended to ensure the airline’s conduct “could not be perceived as anything like the cost of doing business.” He criticised Qantas’ litigation tactics and public statements, saying its expressions of regret appeared more concerned with reputational damage than the impact on workers.
“I accept Qantas is sorry, but I am unconvinced that this measure of regret is not, at least in significant measure … the wrong kind of sorry,” Lee said.
Of the penalty, A$50 million will be paid to the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), which brought the case. TWU national secretary Michael Kaine hailed the ruling, saying: “Against all the odds, we took on a behemoth … that had shown itself to be ruthless, and we won.”
The ruling follows a December settlement establishing a A$120 million compensation fund for sacked staff. In 2020, Qantas laid off 1,820 workers and outsourced their jobs to contractors—a move the court ruled in 2021 as unlawful “adverse action” under the Fair Work Act.
Lee also rebuked Qantas for appealing the 2021 decision without reviewing the detailed judgment, for issuing statements that downplayed its wrongdoing, and for declining to have CEO Vanessa Hudson testify in court.
“It is one thing for the ‘Qantas News Room’ to issue press releases by a CEO saying sorry; it is quite another for written assertions of contrition, recognition of wrong and cultural change to be tested in a courtroom,” he said.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, representing the TWU, called the penalty “record-breaking,” while labour law expert Shae McCrystal said it underscored that employers who break the law may face union-awarded penalties.
Qantas confirmed it will comply with the ruling. “We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families,” CEO Hudson said.
