Qantas saved $100m a year during Covid after illegal sackings
Qantas saved $100m a year during the Covid-19 pandemic when it illegally outsourced more than 1800 ground workers, a court has been told.
The High Court unanimously rejected a Qantas appeal after the Federal Court found that the airline had illegally sacked staff.
A hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney continued on Tuesday to decide the penalty Qantas must pay for the 2020 decision during the Covid pandemic.
Lawyers for the Transport Workers Union said on Tuesday that Qantas was faced with a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' during the pandemic to save more than $100m per year.
Noel Hutley SC said the airline had the 'temptation of the potential to produce a massive profit'.
Qantas had caused 'massive harm' with the aim of achieving economic benefit, Mr Hutley said.
'We say the principal concern of the court is specific and general deterrence,' he said.
Qantas people manager Catherine Walsh was questioned about the sackings as well as ongoing issues with the airline's culture when she took the stand on Monday.
However, Mr Hutley on Tuesday criticised the airline's decision to call Ms Walsh to the stand given she only joined the company in 2024 and had 'nothing to do with the events'.
Justice Michael Lee agreed and said if Qantas was 'truly contrite' it would 'put someone in the witness box who was there at the time these decisions were made and could help explain' and could speak to how the airline had 'changed its tune'.
In his submissions on Tuesday, Mr Hutley said Qantas had acted with 'arrogance and a dismissive and self-justified attitude towards these events' that it was 'dragging out'.
Earlier, Ms Walsh took the stand and said the years-long process of appeals before the court had been a 'very lengthy and no doubt tiring processes for many people' and she accepted that Qantas was 'in the wrong'.
'I want to reinforce that we are deeply sorry, and we apologise for the impact on the workers, the TWU (Transport Workers Union), to the court for their time and to the family and friends that felt the impacts, we are deeply sorry,' she said.
The maximum penalty Qantas can be ordered to pay is $121m, on top of the $120m compensation fund that is now in the process of being administered to workers.
The Federal Court earlier found that Qantas had acted against protections in the Fair Work Act in its outsourcing and was partly motivated by a desire to prevent industrial action.
The airline appealed the decision to the full bench of the Federal Court and later the High Court, both of which were unsuccessful.
After losing the appeal, the union and Qantas went to mediation to determine how much Qantas would have to pay the outsourced workers for economic losses linked to lost wages.
The hearing before Justice Michael Lee continues.
Originally published as Qantas saved $100m a year during Covid after illegal sackings
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