Transport Workers' Union of Australia v Qantas Airways Limited (No 3)

Transport Workers' Union of Australia (the Union) brought an action against Qantas Airways Limited and Qantas Ground Services Pty Ltd (collectively, Qantas) in the Fair Work Division of the Federal Court of Australia. The Union claimed that Qantas contravened s 340(1)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which provides that a person must not take adverse action against a person for the purpose of preventing the person from doing something protected by the Act. In particular, the Union alleged that Qantas took adverse action against employees by terminating their employment for the purpose of preventing them from taking protected action. The Union further alleged that Qantas terminated employees in breach of an agreement that provided for the termination of employees only for just cause or for redundancy. The court found in favour of the Union and held that Qantas contravened s 340(1)(b) of the Act. The court then turned to the issue of relief. The Union sought reinstatement of employees, statutory compensation, and pecuniary penalties. The court decided that the issue of reinstatement should be dealt with in a separate hearing before any other claim for relief. This was because there was a large number of employees affected and the court wanted to provide certainty to them as soon as possible. The court also wanted to ensure that any appeal against the reinstatement decision could be heard at the same time as the appeal against the liability decision. The court made orders for the parties to confer and produce an "Agreed Facts" document, and set out a timetable for the filing of evidence and submissions. The court rejected Qantas' arguments that the hearing should be delayed due to the pandemic, the need for extensive evidence, and the convenience of counsel. The court held that the benefits of a timely hearing outweighed the difficulties identified by Qantas.