Qantas Reaches USD 76 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Terminated Employees
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Sydney, Dec 18 (NationPress) Australia's national airline Qantas has consented to provide compensation to over 1800 workers who were wrongfully terminated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline has announced it has come to an agreement with the Transport Workers Union (TWU) to pay the former ground staff a total of 120 million Australian dollars (equivalent to 76 million US dollars).
As part of this agreement, Qantas and the union will establish a compensation fund in early 2025 to distribute payments to the 1820 former employees whose jobs were illegally outsourced in 2020.
"We understand this has been a challenging time for those impacted, and we are glad to have collaborated with the TWU to expedite this process and resolve it before Christmas," stated Qantas Chief Executive Vannesa Hudson.
The TWU indicated that the compensation would address economic losses as well as pain and suffering, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
The union initiated legal proceedings in the Federal Court on behalf of the 1820 workers in 2020 after their positions were outsourced in August of that year amid border closures and lockdowns.
In 2021, the court determined that the jobs were illegally outsourced but deemed reinstatement impractical due to the scale of the situation. The High Court of Australia upheld this ruling in September 2023, rejecting an appeal from Qantas.
The Federal Court ruled in October 2024 that the airline must pay a total of 170,000 Australian dollars (approximately 107,731 US dollars) to three employees who served as test cases.
The final compensation amounts for the affected workers will be capped at around 12 months' pay.
In its 2024 annual report, Qantas noted it had set aside 70 million Australian dollars (about 44.1 million US dollars) for anticipated costs related to this case.
