Qantas pilot, 64, sues for age discrimination

Andrew Hewitt, the son of former Qantas chairman Sir Lennox Hewitt, is taking the airline to court after he was ruled ineligible for a redundancy because of his age.

Former chairman of Qantas, Sir Lenox Hewitt, whose son Andrew is now embroiled in an age discrimination claim against the carrier after 40-years of service.

A 64-year-old Qantas pilot who flew for the airline for 40 years is taking it to court for alleged age discrimination after he was ­denied access to a redundancy package.

Captain Andrew Hewitt, whose father, the late Sir Lenox Hewitt, was a Qantas chairman, was stood down without pay as a Boeing 747 pilot when the airline halted international flights due to COVID-19 last March.

The decision was then made to bring forward the retirement of the 747s from November to July, leaving the airline’s 747 pilots in limbo. On July 10, Qantas offered pilots who were younger than 63 on July 1, 2020, a voluntary redundancy. Those aged 63 and over were offered an early retirement package, or the option to remain stood down without pay.

Under international civil aviation laws, a pilot cannot operate an overseas commercial flight after reaching the age of 65.

According to documents lodged in the Federal Court, a ­redundancy package would have entitled Captain Hewitt to the equivalent of 12 months of his base salary. In contrast, the early ­retirement package would have entitled him to an ex-gratia payment of four months’ salary.

Captain Hewitt initially made a complaint to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, but the matter was termin­ated “on the basis there was no reasonable prospect of the matter being settled by conciliation”.

A statement of claim made to the Federal Court says the voluntary redundancy package “was a benefit associated with employment”. “Qantas, in denying Captain Hewitt access to the opportunity to apply for the voluntary redundancy package treated him less favourably than pilots of a different age, and did so because of his age, thus directly discriminated against him,” the claim says.

He is seeking a declaration Qantas engaged in unlawful discrimination, as well as damages and costs.

Captain Hewitt joined Qantas in 1980, the same year his father’s five-year term as Qantas chairman came to an end. Sir Lenox was credited with broadening the appeal and ­accessibility of international flights, somewhat controversially introducing free drinks and lowering fares.

“Two weeks’ average earnings will buy you a ticket to Europe and back again, and not years and years of wages,” he said at the time. “It’s a massive achievement in which anyone in Qantas can take a tremendous amount of pride and pleasure. And the knockers can put it in their pipe and smoke it.”

Captain Hewitt first flew 747s for Qantas in 1981 and continued to fly the Queen of the Skies throughout his career, rising to No 4 on the airline’s long-haul ­operations’ pilot seniority list.

He was among about 55 pilots offered early retirement packages as a result of the COVID crisis. All but four accepted, with at least one other pilot believed to be taking legal action against Qantas on the same grounds.

Captain Hewitt’s solicitor Kim Hunter, of Hunter Flood Lawyers, refused to comment on the matter because it was before the court.

A Qantas spokesman said voluntary redundancies were offered to “manage a surplus of inter­national pilots”.

“Pilots who are required by international law to retire before our international aircraft are back flying again in any real size were not eligible for a voluntary redundancy,” he said. “In recognition of their long service with the airline, we offered these pilots an early ­retirement package, which included up to four months’ pay, on top of their usual entitlements.”