The Federal Court has fined major airline Qantas $90 million for illegally terminating and outsourcing more than 1800 ground staff during the pandemic. 

This is in addition to $120 million in compensation that the airline has already agreed to pay former employees. The fine is the largest employer penalty under the fair work act on record.

In his judgment, Justice Lee felt that Qantas had not shown genuine remorse for the impacted workers, instead concerned more about the impact to the company in a formal apology that expressed “the wrong kind of sorry”.

Image: Image: Shutterstock – Dr. Victor Wong

Produced By: Maeve Groom

Featured In Story: Professor of Labour Law at The University of Sydney – Shae McCrystal

First aired on The Wire, Wednesday 20 August 2025