The High Court will deliver judgment Wednesday in an appeal by Qantas over its decision to sack its ground crew at the height of COVID-19, a ruling that could determine the scope of adverse action protections under the Fair Work Act.
Qantas has responded to ACCC proceedings alleging it sold thousands of tickets on cancelled flights, saying the period in which the alleged unlawful conduct occurred was one of “well-publicised upheaval” for airlines.
The ACCC has initiated court proceedings against Qantas for allegedly continuing to sell tickets on more than 8,000 flights that had been cancelled weeks earlier.
Qantas faces a class action on behalf of hundreds of thousands of customers who allegedly never received refunds after flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas has succeeded in attacking claims that it created a workplace that was “hostile to women”, leveled in a former female pilot’s sex discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit.
The Transport Workers Union has predicted wide-reaching consequences for workplace rights if Qantas succeeds in its High Court appeal of a finding that it breached the Fair Work Act when it outsourced ground crew work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas was entitled to take adverse action against ground crew to stave off the possibility of future industrial action, the airline has told the High Court in an appeal of a finding that it breached the Fair Work Act when it outsourced the crew’s work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas has won its application to the High Court to appeal a Full Federal Court finding that it breached the Fair Work Act when it outsourced the work of its ground crew during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qantas has been hit with a lawsuit by a former female pilot who says she suffered years of sex discrimination and harassment that culminated in a three-hour flight simulation with a hostile instructor that left her “visibly distraught.”
The ACCC has raised concerns that Qantas’ proposed acquisition of Brisbane-based regional airline Alliance Aviation Services could harm competition in the market for flights for fly-in, fly-out workers.