Source : THE AGE NEWS
By Abe Maddison
The corporate world must be sent a message that it “can’t play the court for a fool”, says a judge who will decide Qantas’ penalty for illegally sacking more than 1800 workers.
Justice Michael Lee will set the penalty after three days of hearings that began on Monday in the Federal Court in Sydney.
Last October, Justice Lee ordered Qantas to pay $120 million to the ground staff as compensation for their economic loss, pain and suffering since their jobs were outsourced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas is still feeling the heat for illegally sacking more than 1800 baggage handlers in 2020. Credit: Getty Images
The Transport Workers Union is seeking that he impose the maximum penalty of $121 million.
Justice Lee said he was interested in hearing from both sides about specific and general deterrence, “even if I was to accept there has been some ‘road to Damascus’-type conversion” (within Qantas) since the start of 2024.
“(But) the message must be sent to the broader corporate community that you can’t play the court for a fool and try to fashion your evidence in a careful way in order to try to dissemble what went on,” he said.
He asked Noel Hutley SC, for the TWU, if it would be his submission that the demands of general deterrence in this case are so strong “that it would require the imposition of the maximum penalty”.
Hutley said it would not serve deterrence if large and sophisticated employers were able to conclude that “if you’re a little bit more careful” than Qantas its decision becomes a guide card to devastate large numbers of people”.
The Transport Workers Union wants the court to impose the maximum penalty of $121 million on Qantas.Credit: Paul Rovere
Qantas made a “ruthless calculation to prefer the expected commercial benefits of outsourcing over the interests of these loyal workers”, he said.
“Qantas was prepared to sacrifice these individuals during what would have been an immensely difficult time for them during COVID,” Mr Hutley said.
“It was a callous decision.”
Qantas had calculated the commercial benefit to be $100 million a year.
Earlier, Qantas chief people officer Catherine Walsh told Justice Lee that “hopefully you’ll see from the size of the compensation payment that, in fact, we are very sorry”.
Qantas’ chief people officer, Catherine Walsh.Credit: Michael Quelch
“We do wish for the workforce that was impacted to be properly remediated and the compensation that has been agreed could go some way to deal with that,” she said.
The compensation payments will start flowing to workers by the end of May, with a base payment of $10,000 for all workers.
Outside court, TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said Qantas had “said sorry at two minutes to midnight”.
“They put it in an affidavit in these proceedings, because if you show contrition in penalty proceedings, the judge is bound to consider whether that should provide you with a discount on your penalty,” he said.
He said the penalty should reflect the “human suffering, the family dislocation, the financial stress, the mental anguish, the family breakdowns” directly resulting from Qantas’ illegal conduct.
Also outside court, former Qantas worker Tony Hayes said the saga was “neverending”.
“It’s been the same conversation for five years and we just want it to go away, but we want them to pay,” he said.
Another former worker Anne Guirguis said she was with the company for 28 years and thought she would retire there.
“I’ve got colleagues that have lost houses and have been divorced – it’s changed their world,” she said.
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