Airline got fined six crore dollars for firing 1800 employees during Covid

This is the largest fine imposed by the court on a company in the history of Australia’s labor laws.

Canberra: Australia's largest airline Qantas Airways suffered a major setback on Monday. A court ordered the airline to pay a record fine of 90 million Australian dollars (60 million dollars) in a case related to the illegal dismissal of 1,800 ground staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. The court also criticized the airline for not showing any remorse.

This is the largest fine imposed by the court on a company in the history of Australia's labor laws. While delivering his verdict, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee also criticized the airline's litigation strategy.

Although Qantas also made changes to its board and management team in this case, Lee said that the regret expressed by the airline seems to be more related to the "loss" caused to the company by the case, rather than remorse for the harm caused to the workers.

"I accept that Qantas is sorry, but I don't agree that this level of regret is not the wrong kind of regret," he said. Lee said the size of the fine, which is about 75% of the maximum amount he had set, was important to ensure it was "not seen as a cost of doing business."

He said A$50 million of the fine would be paid to the Transport Workers Union (TWU), which brought the case against Qantas. After the decision, TWU national secretary Michael Kane said, "Against all odds, we took on a giant organisation... that proved itself ruthless, and we won."

Monday's decision follows a settlement between the airline and furloughed workers last December over a A$120 million compensation fund. During the COVID pandemic in 2020, Qantas senior management laid off 1,820 ground staff and outsourced their work to contractors. Qantas said it was a commercial decision, but in 2021 the Federal Court deemed the move "wrong". According to the court the airline prevented employees from exercising their workplace rights and forming unions, which was a breach of Australia's Fair Work Act.