Qantas has been charged with breaches of workplace safety law after it stood down an employee who raised concerns staff could be exposed to COVID-19 when cleaning an aircraft that arrived in Sydney from China early in the pandemic.
The airline stood down an elected health and safety representative on February 2 last year, after he allegedly told colleagues it was unsafe to board and clean an aircraft arriving from Shanghai.
The case against Qantas is listed for its first hearing on December 6.Credit: James Brickwood
The incident prompted SafeWork NSW to investigate Qantas for possible discriminatory conduct against the health and safety representative, and the watchdog confirmed on Tuesday it had filed charges against the airline in the District Court of NSW.
The charges were laid under section 104 of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act, which prevents employers from discriminating against a worker for raising safety concerns or carrying out their role as a health and safety representative.
“The charges relate to [Qantas] standing down a worker who raised concerns about potential exposure of workers to COVID-19 whilst cleaning aircraft in early 2020,” a SafeWork spokesman said in a statement.
“As the matter is before the court, no further information can be provided at this time.”
The case is listed for its first hearing on December 6. Qantas has been contacted for comment.
Qantas has previously said that it instructed the employee not to attend work while it investigated him for violations of workplace policies, including an alleged attempt to incite unprotected industrial action.
“There are established, legal mechanisms for health and safety representatives to follow if they have concerns,” the company said. “Qantas supports and encourages our employees to utilise these mechanisms if they have safety concerns.”
Following the incident, Qantas said the employee’s concerns about COVID-19 were unjustified and “against the advice of health authorities”.
However, three weeks later SafeWork NSW ordered Qantas to do more to protect staff and customers from COVID-19. That came after inspectors saw Qantas using the same cloth to wipe multiple tray tables without disinfectant, and handling used tissues and face masks without having to wear protective equipment.
Transport Workers’ Union NSW state secretary Richard Olsen said the prosecution - which stemmed from a complaint by the union - was the first of its kind under new national uniform workplace safety laws, and was a landmark moment for workplace health and safety.
“We hope the court throws the book at Qantas for their outrageous decision to stand down a worker who was simply trying to keep himself and his colleagues safe at work,” Mr Olsen said.
The stood down employee lost his job when Qantas decided to sack and outsource all 2000 of its inhouse ground handlers in November 2020. The Federal Court ruled in July that move was illegal because it was partly motivated by a desire to avoid future industrial disputes with the highly unionised workforce.
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