‘There’s still a long way to go to bring back the flying kangaroo Australians used to love’: Qantas agrees to pay $120m to illegally sacked workers

Qantas has agreed to pay $120 million in compensation to more than 1,800 employees that were illegally sacked and replaced with contract workers during the height of the pandemic, after years of legal headache.

Qantas and the Transport Workers Union agreed to the $120 million figure after the Federal Court’s ordered the carrier to pay $170,000 in compensation to three test case employees in October.

The compensation will be administered by Maurice Blackburn on behalf of the TWU, and will be paid directly to the 1,820 impacted former employees, with individual amounts payable to employees to reportedly span $10,000 and $100,000.