Qantas says sorry to sacked workers: ‘We recognise the emotional impact’

A Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Qantas workers laid off during the pandemic are one step closer to receiving significant compensation with the airline saying it’ ‘sincerely’’ apologises for its conduct..

The Federal Court has ordered Qantas to pay A$170,000 ($187,000) to three workers used as test cases.

The Transport Workers’ Union had 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 from the airline by March 2021, AAP reported.

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.

A judge found the workers would have been retrenched by late 2021 anyway, given the airline’s “laser-like” focus on cutting costs without regard for its employees.

The matter will return to court on November 15, when the judge will hear submissions about the total compensation sum payable by Qantas.

The airline said today it would work to expedite the payments.

Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson 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”.

“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.”

The compensation for the three test cases for non-economic loss are A$30,000, A$40,000 and A$100,000 based on their individual circumstances.

Separate to this, for those eligible for economic loss, it will be based on the finding that Qantas would have definitely outsourced this function by the end of 2021.

These test cases will now be used as the basis to determine the individual compensation payments for each eligible individual.

Qantas has sought help from the TWU to find a way to speed up the compensation and a mediation process will now start.

The group was also undertaking an actuarial review to develop an estimate of the likely total compensation amount payable, Qantas said.

Qantas has previously recognised a provision for an estimated compensation and penalties liability.

The Federal Court found 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.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.