Qantas ordered to pay €50 million for unfair dismissals during the pandemic

An Australian court on Monday, August 18, ordered Qantas airline to pay €50 million for the unlawful dismissal of some 1,800 ground staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. Federal Court Judge Michael Lee said the ruling was intended to act as a "real deterrent" to employers tempted to breach employment law. Of the €50 million, €28 million will go to the Transport Workers' Union. The remaining €22 million will be earmarked for future payments to former Qantas employees.

The decision concludes a years-long legal battle between the unions and the airline. Qantas decided to dismiss the workers and outsource their work in August 2020, as the airline industry grappled with widespread border closures and lockdown measures in response to COVID-19, for which no vaccine had yet been developed. The Federal Court previously ruled that Qantas acted unlawfully by preventing its employees from exercising their rights to collective bargaining and strike action. The court subsequently dismissed the company's appeal.

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The €50 million comes on top of the €67 million in compensation Qantas agreed to pay out last year to its former employees. The 104-year-old airline, nicknamed the "Spirit of Australia," is seeking to rebuild its reputation after mass layoffs, price increases, negative reviews of service, and the sale of tickets for flights that were actually canceled. Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson, who took over in 2023, has promised improved customer satisfaction.

In a statement, Qantas announced it would pay the €50 million sought by the Federal Court. "The outsourcing decision five years ago, particularly at a time of great uncertainty, has caused real hardship for many of our former colleagues and their families," Vanessa Hudson said in the statement. "We sincerely apologize to each of the 1,820 handling employees," she added.

After "five long years, today is a day of victory, not only for our colleagues but for all Australian workers," said Anne Guirguis, who cleaned aircraft for the company for 27 years before being fired. "We can close this chapter and move on now," she told reporters outside the court. Transport Workers' Union national secretary Michael Kaine applauded the decision as a "definitive victory" for the company's former workers, "many of whom found out over a loudspeaker in the lunch room that they had lost their jobs."