Qantas fined €50m for illegally sacking ground staff

Among the reasons Lee gave for imposing the record penalty was the airline’s attempts to obscure the decision-making process behind the outsourcing and the role the then chief executive officer, Dubliner Alan Joyce, had played.

Qantas has been fined a record $90m (€50.2m) for illegally firing 1,820 baggage handlers and other ground staff in 2020, taking the cost of its controversial outsourcing decision to more than $200m (€111.5m).

Justice Michael Lee on Monday handed down his decision on the penalty, nine months after Qantas and the Transport Workers’ Union agreed the airline would pay $120m in compensation to the sacked workers.