Federal Court rules on Qantas sex discrimination case brought by female pilot

A Federal Court judge has struck out a claim that Qantas has a ‘sexist workplace culture’ in a case brought by a female pilot.

A pilot suing Qantas for sexual harassment and discrimination will push on with the case despite a Federal Court dismissing her claim that Qantas has a sexist workplace culture.

Gender equity advocate and former Qantas first officer Davida Forshaw filed the lawsuit last October, alleging a “workplace that was hostile to women”, “improper conduct” towards her and a “sexist culture” had impeded her career.

Among the examples Ms Forshaw provided, was an instance in 2006 where a male captain told her she would “do a lot better” if she dyed her hair blonde and wore a push-up bra.

On another occasion in 2000, Ms Forshaw was “told to organise coffee and snacks” while other pilots discussed operational matters with an engineer; and she claimed a training instructor consistently referred to the pilot cohort as “gents” in her presence.

Other allegations related to her treatment during command training, with Ms Forshaw claiming she was treated differently and unfavourably based on her gender.

Pilot Davida Forshaw will push on with her sex discrimination case against Qantas. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Ms Forshaw was ultimately unsuccessful in her bid to become a captain, which Qantas attributed to an “unsatisfactory performance” and not discrimination or bullying.

Her lawsuit filed by Maurice Blackburn solicitors sought compensation for loss of income, personal illness, hurt, humiliation and distress, but no specific figure was mentioned.

In February, Qantas filed an interlocutory application for the matter to be dismissed in its entirety, or a number of paragraphs to be struck out.

Federal Court Justice John Snaden delivered his judgment on the interlocutory application on Wednesday, ruling nine paragraphs should be dismissed but not the entire case.

In doing so, he noted that Ms Forshaw’s allegations around a sexist workplace culture were not “salvageable”.

“It is, in its entirety, likely to cause prejudice, embarrassment or delay, and it fails to disclose a reasonable cause of action,” said Justice Snaden’s judgment.

He noted that Qantas was opposed to Ms Forshaw being granted leave to re-pleading her case, on the basis, she had already done so on one occasion and refused other invitations to do so.

But Justice Snaden took the view that “Ms Forshaw should redraw her pleading and make an application for leave to file it in its further amended form”.

Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein said they would continue with the case.

“Qantas failed in its application to strike out the claim,” Mr Bornstein noted.

“We will now revise several paragraphs of the claim to set out clearly how we say Qantas has created and maintained a workplace that is hostile to the 7 per cent of women who are employed as pilots in its operations.”

Qantas declined to comment.

The lawsuit comes after the airline was recently forced to defend itself against “offensive” sexist posts made by male pilots on external online forums, suggesting their female counterparts were given preferential treatment when they returned from maternity leave.

Qantas pointed out two of the pilots concerned were no longer employed by the airline, and a third was the subject of an internal investigation.

The union representing Qantas pilots also called out the comments as “deplorable” and said “co-operation and respect for colleagues was crucial to doing their job effectively”.