Qantas will pay over $20,000 (US$13,000) to a former employee who was illegally sacked for directing colleagues to stop cleaning planes from China at the start of the pandemic due to concerns about COVID-19 transmission.
Theo Seremetidis, a trained health and safety representative, was stood down in February 2020, hours after telling others to stop servicing the planes.
Mr. Seremetidis gave the instruction a day after the government closed the border to China.
During a hearing at the New South Wales (NSW) District Court on Feb. 29, it was revealed that Qantas agreed to compensate Mr. Seremetidis with $15,000 for “hurt and humiliation,” in addition to $6,000 for his economic loss.
The national carrier is set to be fined for breaking workplace safety laws, with a maximum penalty of $500,000.
The court will announce Qantas’s total liability in fines, compensation, and expenses on March 6.
Mr. Seremetidis said the four-year “David and Goliath” legal battle was not about financial gain but hoped the case would discourage other businesses.
“For me, it was more about safety in the workplace and fairness,” he said.
“About holding Qantas to account for its actions and standing up for [Health and Safety Representatives’] ability to carry out their duties to keep workplaces safe,” he added.
Qantas admitted the incident’s impact on Mr. Seremetidis and apologised to him in a short statement.
“Safety has always been our number one priority and we continue to encourage our employees to report safety-related matters,” Qantas said in a statement.
Prosecution barrister Matthew Moir argued that Qantas prioritised its business and operational interests over the safety of its workers.
In declaring Qantas guilty, Justice Russell SC DCJ affirmed Qantas found Mr. Seremetidis’s directions as a “threat to the business and the ability of [Qantas] to service aircraft and get them back in the air.”
Mr. Seremetidis instructed workers not to clean the planes under Section 85 of the Work Health and Safety Act, which allows workers to stop unsafe work.
Qantas’s lawyer Bruce Hodgkinson argued that if Mr. Seremetidis had consulted with management beforehand, as health and safety laws required, the outcome might have been different.
He stated that the airline had been trying to handle the evolving pandemic in a knowledgeable and informed manner.
At the time, he mentioned there were “wide-ranging and very different opinions as to what was happening, and what may happen.”
It comes after an investigation by SafeWork NSW uncovered unsafe practices at Qantas.
This included workers cleaning planes from COVID-19 hotspots without enough protective gear, training, or proper disinfection measures.
Mr. Seremetidis Hailed as a Hero
The national secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Michael Kaine has since hailed Mr. Seremetidis as a “workplace hero.”“This is an important moment in holding Qantas to account for its illegal behaviour, its disregard for workers’ safety concerns during the pandemic, and its treatment of workers at large,” he added.
He said while this prosecution is the first of its kind, it’s not the airline’s first offence, pointing to Qantas’s High Court loss over illegally outsourcing ground staff and other incidents.
Mr. Kaine urged Qantas to stop “writing off” legal bills as mere business costs, advocating for a company shift with the establishment of a Safe and Secure Skies Commission.
Qantas faces upcoming compensation and penalty hearings for illegally sacking a further 17,00 workers, an ACCC prosecution, and a pending class action.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Liam O’Brien hailed the win as a significant triumph for workers’ rights and safety advocacy.
“Theo is an inspiration to health and safety representatives across Australia,” he said.
“HSRs are some of the unsung heroes of our workplaces.”
