A fund will provide compensation to 1,820 former employees of handling services

Qantas and the Transport Workers Union (TWU, the union that represents workers in various transport sectors in Australia, including commercial aviation), have reached an agreement to pay compensation to former ground handlers who were laid off in 2020 following the airline's decision to outsource its airport services, for a total value of 120 million Australian dollars (AU dollars, or 76 million US dollars). The Australian airline had no other choice, as the national Federal Court had ruled that the dismissal of 1,820 ground workers at 10 airports in November 2020 (see AVIONEWS), was unlawful.

The 120 million figure was based on a trial court award in October to compensate three of the dismissed workers. The union and Qantas then agreed to set up a compensation fund in early 2025, to be administered by Maurice Blackburn on behalf of the TWU, which will pay out the money to the 1,820 former workers. The final compensation amounts will cover both economic and non-economic loss, compensation to the TWU, and the costs of managing the distribution of the funds to individuals.

News of the agreement reached today was also released by Qantas. Vanessa Hudson, CEO of the Group, commented: "This is an important step towards closure, and I would like to reiterate our sincere apologies to those affected and their families".

Qantas last updated its provision for the estimated compensation and penalties in its Group Annual Results in August 2024, the statement said. The incremental changes to the provision will be recognised in the Interim Financial Report for the first half of fiscal year 2025 to be published in February. The changes to the provision will be taken out of underlying earnings.

A separate hearing will be held to determine the penalties to be imposed on the company, the date of which will be announced by the federal court itself.