Anti-vax Qantas workers fall foul of court, given one last chance to get lawsuit on track

Qantas has tried to have a lawsuit brought by 22 unvaccinated employees struck out after their lawyer missed a court deadline.

Qantas is the target of a class action brought by 22 employees opposed to the airline’s mandatory vaccination policy for workers. Picture: David Gray/Getty Images for Destination New South Wales

Qantas has sought to have a lawsuit brought against the airline by 22 unvaccinated employees struck out, after their lawyer failed to comply with a court deadline for crucial paperwork.

Solicitor Rob Grealy had already been asked twice before to redraft his clients’ statement of claim, alleging Qantas’s mandatory vaccination policy for employees was discriminatory and in breach of the fair work and privacy acts.

Federal Court Justice Darryl Ragiah appeared to lose patience with Mr Grealy on Friday when it was revealed he had failed to comply with an order to file an amended statement of claim by March 25.

“If orders are made and the order concerned with was made on March 2, why did you consent to it if you couldn’t comply with it?” Justice Ragiah said.

“You either have the capacity to conduct this litigation or you don’t. It’s not good enough to consent to an order saying you’ll do something and then not do it. It wastes the resources of the court, of your opponent and it wastes time.”

Barrister for Qantas Richard Dalton opposed the court granting Mr Grealy more time to comply with the orders, in an attempt to “strike out” the case.

He said the amended statement of claim lodged by Mr Grealy on April 21 had “defects in the pleading that made it difficult to understand the nature and scope of allegations” brought against Qantas.

“We’re unclear about the number of applicants,” Mr Dalton added.

“There’s a need to clarify who’s in and who’s out. Some individual respondents appear to have been brought back in (but) when you look a the schedule of respondents others have been deleted.”

Justice Ragiah said he did not have the time to “hear and determine a de facto strike out application” in respect of the statement of claim and agreed to give Mr Grealy a few more weeks to resubmit the paperwork.

However, he warned the solicitor there could be “no excuse” for not complying and set May 16 as the ultimate deadline.

“Mr Grealy should’ve well and truly have got the message that orders have to be complied with,” said Justice Ragiah.

“It it’s attempted to be filed on a day after that date it won’t be accepted for filing.”

Mr Dalton sought costs from the applicants for Friday’s hearing which Justice Ragiah indicated he would approve.

“Obviously my client (Qantas) is very concerned about the pattern of ongoing delays that have beset this proceeding from the outset,” Mr Dalton said.

Qantas introduced its Covid-19 vaccination mandate last year after a staff survey showed 89 per cent were already double jabbed or were willing to be.

All frontline staff were given until November 15 to be fully vaccinated against Covid, with the rest of the workforce allowed until March 31, 2022 to comply with the mandate.

Those who refused were subject to a six-stage process which could ultimately lead to termination of their employment.

Originally published as Anti-vax Qantas workers fall foul of court, given one last chance to get lawsuit on track