The Federal Court of Australia fined Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) AUD90 million Australian dollars (USD58.6 million) for illegally "outsourcing" 1,820 ground handling staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The payment comes on top of the AUD120 million (USD78.1 million) settlement that Qantas agreed to pay out in December 2024.

Justice Michael Lee ordered AUD50 million (USD32.6 million) be paid to the Transport Workers' Union of Australia, which brought the case on behalf of the illegally sacked employees. Given "the real competing interests" between the union and some workers, the judge will decide how the remaining AUD40 million (26 million) will be paid at a later hearing.

The union asked for a maximum permissible fine of AUD121.2 million (USD78.8 million), while Qantas hoped to limit it to AUD40-80 million (USD26-52 million). The judge said the penalty should be severe and bear "some reasonable relationship with the maximum" to achieve the desired deterrence effect.

The case concerned only the penalty for actions that have long been deemed illegal. Already in 2021, the court found that Qantas' decision to outsource ground handling at ten Australian airports to third-party companies and then sack over 1,800 of its in-house ground handling workers violated the Fair Work Act (2009). The first subsequent mediation failed, although after the court ordered a second round of talks, Qantas agreed to pay out the AUD120 million settlement. Justice Lee said that given the opaqueness of procedures and talks, he was unable to determine if the settlement was "fair".

Qantas said in a statement that it accepted the judgment, which "held it accountable for actions that caused real harm to employees". Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson "sincerely apologised" and said the airline has been "working hard to change the ways we operate".

The court did not elaborate on personal responsibility for the decisions, deeming it unnecessary to the case, but said that the details of the decision-making process from 2020 left it "with a sense of disquiet and uncertainty as to precisely what went on within the upper echelons of Qantas leading up to the outsourcing decision."

"What can be said is that any decision to outsource in 2020 was not straightforward and despite the enthusiasm of some, those with the most industrial relations experience were chary about Qantas going down the outsourcing road," the court opined.

This comes just days after Alan Joyce, the former chief executive officer of Qantas, who left in September 2023 and was in charge of the airline during the pandemic, spoke for the first time since then at an industry conference in Australia. "Qantas, like many airlines, also faced very challenging decisions about its workforce. I acknowledge that," he said, without admitting any wrongdoing or assuming responsibility.