Sydney: Australian airline Qantas has been ordered to pay a record A$90 million (£43m; $59m) for unlawfully dismissing more than 1,800 ground staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the largest penalty ever imposed under Australia’s industrial relations laws.
The ruling by the Federal Court comes after a five-year legal battle over Qantas’ 2020 decision to outsource its ground operations staff, which the airline said was necessary as the aviation sector came to a near halt during the pandemic.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said the fine is intended as a “real deterrence” to other employers. “This penalty sends a clear message that large firms cannot simply assume they can get away with unlawful dismissals,” he said.
Qantas said it would pay the fine and offered an apology to the affected employees. “We sincerely apologise to every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families who suffered as a result,” said Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson. She added that the decision to outsource during such uncertain times had caused “genuine hardship” for many former employees.
Of the total penalty, A$50 million will go directly to the Transport Workers’ Union, which brought the case to court. The union described the ruling as the end of a David and Goliath five-year battle and a “moment of justice for loyal workers who had loved their jobs at the airline.”
The fine comes on top of A$120 million in compensation that Qantas agreed to pay former employees in 2024, after losing multiple appeals.
Justice Lee criticised Qantas’ corporate approach, calling its legal strategy “unrelenting and aggressive” and suggesting it had sought to avoid paying compensation. Many of the sacked workers were union members, and a 2021 court ruling found that Qantas had partially outsourced its workforce to reduce the risk of industrial action.
The illegal layoffs form part of a series of controversies for Qantas. In 2024, the airline was ordered to pay A$100 million for selling tickets on thousands of flights it had already cancelled.
