Qantas has been granted special leave to appeal two rulings by the Federal Court, which found the outsourcing of 1700 ground staff was illegal.

The outsourcing took place in late 2020 and included cleaners, baggage handlers, and ground staff.

The airline was found by the Federal Court to have breached the Fair Work Act in outsourcing its ground operations to avoid enterprise bargaining rights.

In a statement, Qantas said it welcomed the ruling and would present its case to the High Court next year.

“At its core, this case is about Qantas’ ability to legally outsource a function to save more than $100 million a year when it was struggling to remain solvent. We’ve always expressed our deep regret that our ground handlers, and thousands more across the group, had to lose their jobs as the pandemic hit us,” Qantas said in a statement.

“There was very little certainty about the pandemic and our recovery when we made this decision, and it remained that way for more than a year afterwards. We ultimately lost more than $25 billion in revenue, so it was inevitable that we had to take significant action.

“The Federal Court agreed with our commercial reasons but could not rule out that avoiding future industrial action was also a factor in the outsourcing. We have always rejected this, which is why are taking our appeal to the High Court.”

Transport Workers Union National Secretary Michael Kain, said the High Court’s decision to hear this appeal “highlights the magnitude of Qantas’ actions”.

“Illegally sacking 1700 workers in one fell swoop to avoid enterprise bargaining rights is unprecedented in Australia. While it is deeply disappointing for workers, it’s clear the High Court believes it’s in the public interest to hear such an extraordinary case which has sent shockwaves across the economy and plunged Qantas into chaos,” said Kain.

“Twice in the Federal Court Qantas workers have demonstrated that their sacking was deliberately targeted to avoid enterprise bargaining rights. Although they’ve faced an agonising couple of years, our members will continue to fight on to prove once and for all that Qantas broke the law. We welcome the opportunity to prove in the High Court how Qantas illegally breached the Fair Work Act.”

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said the case has shown a need for “more effective workplace laws and stronger rights for working people.”

“Businesses like Qantas are exactly why we need to update and modernise our workplace laws. These big employers have managed to find all the loopholes and gaps in our laws, and working people are suffering as a result.

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