SYDNEY, Aug 18 — Australian airline Qantas will face a penalty of at least A$90 million (Rs 512.64 crore) for illegally outsourcing 1,800 ground handling jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC News Australia reported.
According to details received by The Chenab Times, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said on Monday the penalty must “bear some resemblance” to the maximum $121 million and set the amount at no less than $90 million, equal to 75 percent of the maximum. He also directed that $50 million of the penalty be paid to the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
The ruling follows the Federal Court’s earlier finding that Qantas’s 2020 decision to outsource its ground handling workforce was unlawful. The TWU had sought the maximum $121 million fine, in addition to $120 million in compensation already ordered for the affected workers.
Justice Lee criticized Qantas for showing the “wrong kind of sorry,” stating that the company was more concerned with its own image than the impact on the dismissed employees. He noted testimony from Qantas Chief People Officer Catherine Walsh but said he would have been more convinced of genuine remorse had senior executives, including CEO Vanessa Hudson, explained the company’s failures and reforms.
“Time will only tell whether the undoubted good intentions of Miss Walsh will prevail,” Justice Lee said. He added that while Qantas had later expressed “genuine regrets,” this seemed to reflect reputational damage rather than true remorse for the affected workers.
He further said the airline “resisted until it could resist no more” and often framed its conduct as lacking moral or ethical failings.
The decision underscores what the court described as deep-rooted industrial relations issues within the airline.
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