SYDNEY – Qantas Airways illegally suspended a health and safety representative after he instructed colleagues not to clean planes arriving from Covid-19 hot spots at the start of the pandemic, an Australian court ruled in the latest blow to the airline’s battered reputation.
The ground worker at Sydney airport targeted by Qantas, Mr Theo Seremetidis, told staff on Feb 2, 2020, that for safety reasons, they did not have to clean two aircraft arriving from China that morning. Qantas broke the law when it suspended Mr Seremetidis the same day, according to Thursday’s judgment.
The case follows a September ruling by Australia’s top court that Qantas illegally sacked almost 1,700 ground workers during the pandemic. The country’s antitrust watchdog is also suing the airline for allegedly continuing to sell tickets on thousands of flights it had already decided to cancel.
The reputational damage caused by the scandals and a decline in service levels since the pandemic have triggered a stock-price slump, the early retirement of former chief executive officer Alan Joyce and a boardroom clean-out.
According to Thursday’s judgment, Mr Seremetidis attempted to carry out his duties as a health and safety representative “conscientiously and carefully”. Sentences and costs are yet to be determined.
In early 2020, the workplace safety watchdog that brought the case against Qantas inspected the airline’s Covid-19 cleaning practices. Its subsequent report found that personal protective equipment was not mandated for most tasks.
A workplace safety inspector “observed workers wiping over multiple tray tables with the same wet cloth with no disinfectant and cleaning unknown liquids on floors and surfaces”, according to the March 2020 report. Cleaners were “required to handle wet and used tissues, used face masks, soiled nappies and the workers advised they occasionally have to clean vomit and blood off surfaces”.
Qantas shares fell 1.1 per cent in Sydney trading on Thursday. The stock is down about 10 per cent in 2023. BLOOMBERG
