Two dozen unvaccinated Qantas employees scored a small victory this week after the airline agreed to pause terminating their employment until a legal challenge plays out. Despite this, the employees failed to stop Qantas from taking other action against them.
Qantas gives undertaking to pause termination of unvaccinated employees
In an interlocutory application to the Federal Court in Brisbane on Monday, the employees asked the court for an injunction to prevent their termination while a challenge to Qantas’ employee vaccine mandate played out.
In August, the Qantas Group said all its frontline employees would need to be vaccinated by mid-November 2021, with the remainder of employees vaccinated by April.
Last Friday, legal representatives for 24 unvaccinated Qantas employees lodged an urgent application in Australia’s Federal Court to halt the termination process. Among the group were pilots and engineers. However, the Federal Court refused their application.
The matter will now go to trial in March. But in an undertaken provided to the court, Qantas has agreed not to terminate the employees until legal proceedings end.
Aggrieved Qantas employees argue Qantas is mandating “experimental medication”
The court heard three of the 24 employees had already lost their jobs. A further two were on unpaid leave, and the remaining 19 were currently stood down on full pay.
Qantas has a six stage review process for employees who refuse vaccination. Most were midway through the process, with Qantas having issued review of employment letters and the employees formally responding.
John Sheahan QC, representing Qantas, told the court the review process would continue, but any terminations would not happen until the legal challenges conclude.
Rob Grealy, representing the 24 Qantas employees, told the Federal Court that Qantas had not adequately considered the risks the various COVID vaccines presented. He argued by making vaccinations compulsory, the airline had not provided a “safe workplace” for its employees.
“Qantas is effectively mandating an experimental medication,” The Sydney Morning Herald reports Mr Grealy saying. “They have no evidence to show that they are safe.
“We also say the requirement that employees provide copies of the vaccination certificate to be uploaded to a database is a breach of the Privacy Act.”
The majority of Qantas employees agree with mandated vaccinations
It’s an argument the judge, Kylie Downes, had little time for. In dismissing the application, Justice Downes said the applicants failed to produce any evidence to support their claims.
“There’s no evidence before me from an expert saying this,” the judge said. “It’s your opinion.”
“They’re unable to point to any harm or any urgent intermedial harm they would suffer if the injunctions aren’t granted.”
The judge also questioned why the employees left their filing until Friday, given Qantas first flagged mandating vaccinations as far back as July. She noted it was two months since the vaccination deadline for frontline employees had passed.
While giving an undertaking not to terminate the employees until the challenge plays out, Mr Sheahan told the court the applicant’s case would ultimately fail.
Qantas isn’t budging from its employee vaccination policy. Unions and various employee groups are all onboard – a relatively rare event for the airline. Last year, Qantas surveyed 22,000 employees before it mandated employee vaccinations.
The airline said it received around 12,000 responses and say the vast majority supported compulsory vaccinations.
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