Qantas Covid-19 vaccination policy ‘lawful and reasonable’, rules Fair Work Commission

A senior Qantas worker, who delayed her Covid-19 vaccination until she returned from leave, has lost her unfair dismissal case.

Qantas’ sacking of a manager, who delayed her Covid vaccination until she returned from long service leave, has been ruled fair and reasonable. Picture: Richard Walker.

The Fair Work Commission has ruled Qantas’ sacking of a manager, who delayed her Covid vaccination until she returned from long service leave, was fair and reasonable.

Megan Willoughby worked for Jetstar for 15-years, rising to the position of airport duty manager in Brisbane with an annual salary of $108,000.

The Commission heard she had an unblemished work record until her noncompliance with Qantas’s vaccination policy, which required all frontline workers to be double-vaxxed by November 15, 2021.

Ms Willoughby was on long-service leave from around November 10, 2021 until early May 2022.

In her submission to the FWC, Ms Willoughby said she believed the vaccination policy did not apply to employees on long service leave, and she communicated her intention to comply when she returned to work.

She had her first dose of the Novavax vaccine on April 19 and the second on May 10, 2022, and uploaded evidence of her vaccination status to the airline’s computer program the same day.

A letter about her noncompliance was first sent on November 17, 2021, and on May 5, 2022, Ms Willoughby was invited to a meeting to discuss why she should not be sacked. She did not attend.

Qantas informed her of her termination on June 1, and three weeks later dismissed an internal appeal brought by Ms Willoughby.

In her ruling, FWC vice president Ingrid Asbury found Ms Willoughby wilfully failed to comply with the vaccination policy and not because she was mistaken about the meaning.

Commissioner Asbury pointed to an email exchange with her superior, where Ms Willoughby sought clarity whether she would be paid for long service leave, if she was not vaccinated, and questioned why she needed to be vaccinated when she was out of the workforce.

“I was left with the overwhelming impression that (Ms Willoughby) did all she could to create an appearance of confusion to cover her wilful refusal to comply with a lawful and reasonable direction given by her employer,” wrote Commissioner Asbury.

“This is not a case where a longstanding employee with an unblemished work history failed to comply with a policy because of an honest and reasonable belief that it did not apply. Rather, (Ms Willoughby’s) noncompliance was wilful and unreasonable.”

The case is one of many brought by former employees of Qantas and Jetstar, over the airline’s Covid-19 vaccination policy, which was announced in August 2021.

Under the policy, all frontline workers such as pilots, cabin crew and airport staff had to be double-vaccinated by November 15, 2021 and all other staff by March 31, 2022.

In a related matter currently before the Federal Circuit Court, a Qantas pilot who was undergoing cancer-related treatment and was not medically certified to fly, was sacked for noncompliance with the vaccination policy.

First officer David Copley is suing Qantas for unfair dismissal and seeking close to $2m in lost wages, and reputational damage.

That matter is set down for a hearing before Judge Amanda Humphreys on June 29.