Qantas Airways QAN.AX, the largest airline in Australia, has been fined A$90 million ($58.64 million) for unlawfully dismissing 1,800 ground staff and replacing them with contractors during the Covid-19 pandemic, as a court decided on Monday (August 18).
The Federal Court of Australia Judge Michael Lee imposed a penalty nearly maximum for violating Australia’s workplace laws, stating it was crucial to ensure it is not seen as merely a business expense.
“My current aim is to achieve substantial deterrence, including general deterrence for large public companies that might consider bypassing legal regulations due to potential rewards outweighing the risks of corrective actions,” Lee mentioned in a summary judgment.
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Lee indicated that A$50 million ($32.6 million) of the penalty would be allocated to the Transport Workers’ Union, which filed the case on behalf of the 1,820 employees terminated by Qantas during the pandemic.
This ruling follows around nine months after Qantas and the Union agreed on a A$120 million ($78.2 million) settlement for the terminated workers.
Qantas shares dropped by 0.13 per cent in early trading.
