Qantas, Jetstar workers go to court over vaccine mandate

A court has refused to protect the jobs of more than 20 Qantas workers who are resisting the airline’s Covid vaccination mandate.

The vaccination mandate issued by Qantas and Jetstar is the subject of a class action by two dozen employees. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

A court has refused an urgent application by Qantas and Jetstar workers to save their jobs until the legality of the airlines’ vaccination mandate can be tested.

Two dozen employees, including three already sacked, launched a class action against the Qantas Group over the direction to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or face dismissal.

Qantas announced last September that frontline workers including pilots, cabin crew and airport staff had to be double-jabbed by November 15, while the rest of the workforce had until the end of March 2022.

On Monday, an interlocutory application to the Federal Court in Brisbane sought an injunction to prevent employees being axed until the legality of the vaccine mandate was determined.

Solicitor Rob Grealy for the workers told judge Kylie Downes he had put the case together “pretty quickly”, after filing the application last Friday.

“We say that the mandate by the Qantas Group is inconsistent with the obligation to provide a safe workplace and the Qantas Group has failed to undertake sufficient investigation into the safety of the available vaccines, to determine if those vaccines are safe and don’t risk the health of employees,” he told the court.

“We also say the requirement that employees provide copies of the vaccination certificate to be uploaded to a database is a breach of the Privacy Act.”

Despite his claims on the safety of Covid vaccines being in question, he was unable to produce supporting evidence.

“The vaccines have been proven to be unsafe and don’t have final TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) approval. Qantas is mandating an experimental vaccination where the long-term effects are unknown,” Mr Grealy said.

Justice Downes replied that was “based on his assessment … There’s no evidence before me from an expert saying this.

“It’s your opinion, and you’re a solicitor.”

Mr Grealy assured the court numerous scientific and medical experts would give evidence at the trial to support his claim that the vaccine was unsafe.

The court heard Qantas had a six-stage process in place to deal with employees who did not want to get vaccinated, with termination the last option.

Three applicants had already been terminated, while another two had taken leave without pay.

The other 19 were at various stages of the employment review process regarding their unvaccinated status.

In her ruling, Justice Downes pointed out that employees had known since late July 2021 that a vaccine mandate was likely and were given months to comply.

“There are a number of employees presently going through a review of employment process and have been directed not to attend work. That is because they fail to meet the public health orders which are applicable to them in their employment,” Justice Downes said.

The application for an injunction was dismissed on the grounds there was no evidence of how workers would be adversely affected if it was not granted.

“On the other hand, the Qantas Group is seeking to comply with what it understands to be lawful public health orders and directions imposed by the states where it operates its business,” the judge said.

Barrister John Sheahan QC for Qantas said the airline wanted the matter dealt with “expeditiously” and would be ready for trial in March.