Qantas is fined A$90M after a Federal Court ruled the carrier broke the law by firing 1,800 staff during COVID.

A judge on Monday fined Qantas Airways 90 million Australian dollars ($59 million) for illegally firing more than 1,800 ground staff at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The penalty is in addition to the AU$120 million ($78 million) in compensation that Australia’s biggest airline had already agreed to pay its former employees.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee has imposed the largest fine on a company under the Fair Work Act for illegally sacking more than 1800 workers.