Australian flag carrier Qantas has been fined A$90 million (US$59m) for illegally sacking more than 1,800 ground workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The huge fine is the largest employer penalty in Australia's history.
In his judgement, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee also attention to the role played by former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce in the decision to dismiss the employees.
The judge noted the “the central importance of Joyce to the decision-making processes in 2020”, and said his name being kept out of direct involvement in the outsourcing decision left him “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”.
Joyce left Qantas in September 2023. At an airline conference in Australia last week, he defended his cost-cutting actions during the Covid crisis, insisting they were needed to save the airline.
“Qantas, at one point, was just 11 weeks away from running out of cash. That’s not a buffer; that’s staring into the abyss,” he said.
“But we didn’t fall. We made hard and painful decisions.”
The airline said in a statement that it accepted the findings of the Federal Court.
"We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families who suffered as a result," Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson said.
Qantas was ordered by the court to pay A$50m of the penalty directly to the transport workers' union, which had sued the airline over the layoffs.
The fine is close to the maximum penalty that can be imposed for breaching Australia's workplace laws.