---
title: "Qantas fined $58 million over illegally sacking 1,800 workers during pandemic"
description: "Qantas Airways QAN.AX, Australia’s largest airline, has been fined A$90 million ($58.64 million) for illegally sacking 1,800 ground staff and replacing them with contractors during the COVID-19 pandemic, a court ruled on Monday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-18-qantas-fined-58-million-over-illegally-sacking-1800-workers-during-pandemic/"
published: "2025-08-18T04:36:43"
updated: "2025-08-18T04:39:09"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 157
---

# Qantas fined $58 million over illegally sacking 1,800 workers during pandemic

> Qantas Airways QAN.AX, Australia’s largest airline, has been fined A$90 million ($58.64 million) for illegally sacking 1,800 ground staff and replacing them with contractors during the COVID-19 pandemic, a court ruled on Monday.

By Reuters · Published 18 August 2025, 06:36 SAST · Updated 18 August 2025, 06:39 SAST

## Key points
- In a ruling that sends a clear message to corporate wrongdoers, Judge Michael Lee handed Qantas a A$50 million penalty—just shy of the maximum—ensuring that the cost of flouting workplace laws doesn’t get mistaken for a mere line item in the budget, while the airline's shares barely flinch in response.
- Federal Court Judge Michael Lee imposes a near-maximum A$50 million penalty on Qantas for breaching workplace laws to deter future violations.
- The penalty aims to prevent large companies from viewing fines as merely a cost of doing business.
- A$50 million of the penalty will be allocated to the Transport Workers' Union, representing 1,820 staff fired during the pandemic.
- Qantas shares dip 0.13% following the ruling, coming months after a A$120 million settlement with the Union for the sacked workers.

## Content

In imposing a penalty close to the maximum available for breaching Australia's workplace laws, Federal Court of Australia Judge Michael Lee said it was to ensure it “could not be perceived as anything like the cost of doing business”.

“My present focus is on achieving real deterrence (including general deterrence to large public companies which might be tempted to ‘get away’ with contravening conduct because the rewards may outweigh the downside risk of effective remedial responses,” Lee said in a summary judgment.

He said A$50 million of the penalty would be paid to the Transport Workers' Union, which brought the case on behalf of the 1,820 staff [fired by Qantas during the pandemic](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3LX00Y&linkedFromStory=true).

It comes around nine months after Qantas and the Union agreed on a A$120 million settlement for the sacked workers.

Qantas shares were down 0.13% in early trade.

($1 = 1.5349 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)