Qantas ordered to back pay five Adelaide Airport staff for underpaying them over a six-year period

QANTAS has been ordered to back pay five of its Adelaide Airport staff who a court found had been underpaid for six years.

A court has ruled that Qantas has underpaid five members of staff. Picture: Dean Lewins/AAP

QANTAS has been ordered to back pay five of its Adelaide Airport staff who a court found had been underpaid for six years.

Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke found the national airline had breached the Fair Work Act by underpaying five Adelaide Airport customer service officers between April 2007 and July 2013.

The customer service officers – Rebecca Ardlie, April Burdett, Martin Edkins, Edward Lenhart and Mathew Hastwell – launched civil action against Qantas after fruitless attempts to be paid under a higher pay bracket.

After the new Adelaide Airport terminal was built in early 2006, the five staff were given new supervisory responsibilities as customer service officers.

They claimed Qantas misunderstood the “real jobs” they were required to do.

“The customer service officers are required to wear a different uniform ... and are readily identifiable to customers by the ‘supervisor’ badges they are required to wear,” Mr Lieschke said in his judgment.

“The customers services team at Adelaide included work areas known as check-in, departures, baggage services, ticketing, sales and lounges.”

He said the customer service officers were known to be of higher rank than customer service agents.

“Unlike customer service agents, they are authorised to approve accommodation, meal vouchers, transport, ongoing travel and issue boarding documents of customers affected by flight delays,” he said.

The court was told the customer service officers were supervising up to 110 people, provided detailed feedback to the duty manager about appraisals and adjusted rosters through the day.

But Qantas denied the customer service officer position should have attracted more pay, saying they were not required to exercise higher levels of knowledge, problem solving and accountability.

“(Qantas) submitted that the title of ‘supervisor’ did not elevate their role to a level of supervision where they were accountable for any of the performance of the customer service agents,” Mr Lieschke said.

In his decision, Mr Lieschke found the five officers were required to do “far more” than a “first-level team leader” – which was the classification they had been paid under over the six years.

“They were required to supervise and co-ordinate a large number of subordinates with all the inherent complexities of a large work group,” he said.

He said the role points to a “best fit” two levels higher than they were getting paid until July 2013.

“I conclude that each applicant has been underpaid the precise sum of the difference between the relevant level 5 and 7 salaries and entitlements for six years,” he found.

The amount Qantas will have to backplay each staff member will be determined at a later hearing.

Originally published as Qantas ordered to back pay five Adelaide Airport staff for underpaying them over a six-year period