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

Sydney (Reuters) -Qantas Airways, the largest airline company in Sustralya, was fined $ 90 million ($ 58.64 million) for replacing 1,800 ground staff illegally and replacing them with Covid -19 pandemia on Monday.

Judge Michael Lee, the Australian Federal Court, said that while imposing A Australia’s workplace laws to violate the laws of the workplace, it cannot be perceived as the cost of doing business ”.

“My current focus is to achieve real deterrence (my current focus (including general deterrence to large public companies, may be attractive to ‘escape’ with contracted behaviors, because rewards can be overweight than the risk of effective healing reactions, Lee Lee said.

Authorized, Pandemik during the case of 1,820 personnel fired by Qantas, the Union of Transportation Workers who brought the case will be paid a penalty of 50 million dollars, he said.

About nine months after Qantas and Union accepts an agreement of $ 120 million for the dismissed workers.

Qantas shares fell by 0.13% in early trade.

($ 1 = 1.5349 Australian dollars)

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