Qantas tries to block former staff move to Virgin

Qantas is going to court to try to stop a former executive from starting work with Virgin Australia in May.

Qantas and Virgin Australia are at loggerheads over the employment of a former Jetstar Japan executive. Picture: iStock

Qantas is going to court to try to stop a former executive from starting a new job at rival Virgin Australia until September.

Former Jetstar Japan chief executive Nick Rohrlach was recently named as Virgin’s new Velocity CEO, with a May commencement date.

Qantas’s concern about his career change stemmed from the fact he was in line for a senior role at Qantas’s own frequent-flyer business, and was privy to sensitive information.

This included details of future expansion plans for Qantas Loyalty, its strategy towards competitors and detail on commercial terms with program partners.

The legal action in the NSW Supreme Court aimed to force Mr Rohrlach to honour a non-compete restraint period of six months, on top of three months notice.

A Qantas spokesman said it was unfortunate to have to take the matter to court but it appeared Mr Rohrlach and Virgin would “have to be forced to do the right thing”.

“Virgin’s behaviour on this matter is disappointing at best and unscrupulous at worst,” said the spokesman.

“Virgin chose to recruit a senior Qantas Group executive knowing that he would almost certainly be subject to a necessarily long wait before starting with them.

“If they weren’t aware beforehand, Virgin now knows that his contract requires a six-month wait, that Mr Rohrlach had accepted a senior role in Qantas Loyalty and had received highly sensitive information in preparation for starting that role.”

The spokesman said it was “an inglorious sequence of events to formally accept a new job and as part of the preparation for it, receive highly sensitive and confidential information, then turn around just a few weeks later and take a job with a direct competitor where that information would give you a clear advantage”.

“At no point after negotiations between Mr Rohrlach and Virgin began, and right up until he informed Qantas of his new role at Velocity, was it suggested that the flow of information from Qantas should cease,” the spokesman said.

A directions hearing was set down in the NSW Supreme Court for Tuesday, with the matter of jurisdiction expected to dominate proceedings.

It’s understood that because Mr Rohrlach signed his employment contract with Virgin Australia in Singapore, the airline wants the matter to be heard there.

A Virgin spokeswoman said they were disappointed with Qantas’s public criticism of the matter, and categorically denied they had been “anything but proper and appropriate in Mr Rohrlach’s recruitment”.

“We are confident our position will be vindicated in court,” the spokeswoman said.

She said the court case would not distract Virgin from its commitment to being Australia’s most loved and best value airline for business and leisure travellers.

“It’s nice the dominant market player is finally recognising it has competition but it’s disappointing they have chosen to attack us rather than get on with the job at hand,” the spokeswoman said.

At this particularly critical juncture, with vaccines rolling out and new virus variants emerging, Australian airlines need to work to get our country flying again.”

The position of Velocity CEO has been vacant for more than a year, following the resignation of Karl Schuster in January 2020.

Mr Rohrlach previously worked with Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka at Jetstar and was among six new faces appointed to the airline’s executive team in January.

He is understood to have formally accepted the job with Virgin on December 18, despite having been in discussions with Qantas Loyalty since early October.

An industry source said there were some “ethical lines” workers should not cross.

“There’s nothing new about companies poaching executives and contracts are designed with that in mind,” said the source.

“People have the freedom to move but companies have to be able to protect commercially sensitive information.”