Qantas does not have to pay sick leave to the 25,000 workers that it temporarily stood down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court has ruled.
The court agreed with Qantas' position — that its staff cannot access paid compassionate, personal or carer's leave because there is no work for them to be absent from.
The case for the employees — including a man battling cancer and another waiting on a triple heart bypass — was backed by several unions, which are thinking about appealing against the decision.
Both men had worked at Qantas for three decades.
"The ruling is bitterly disappointing for Qantas workers battling serious illnesses and their families, who are enduring worries about their finances at a difficult time in their lives," Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said.
"This is about justice and the fact that workers who are battling serious illnesses should be allowed to draw down the significant sick leave they have accrued through years of hard work at Qantas."
The other unions involved in this case were the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, and Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia.
"If there is no work available to be performed by the employee, there is no income and no protection against that which has not been lost," Justice Geoffrey Flick wrote in his decision, delivered on Monday.
"The effect on the economy and business has been unparalleled. International travel has all but ceased."
The judge said that if Qantas were required to pay leave entitlements after lawfully standing down its workers, that would defeat the purpose of having the staff furloughed in the first place.
The purpose was "to protect the employer against such claims" — and also to protect the workers from losing their jobs permanently.
Despite being denied sick leave, the airline's spokesperson said: "Employees can still access annual leave, long service leave and other support including the Government's JobKeeper payments."
The ABC has previously spoken to a Qantas worker who believed they contracted COVID-19 while working for the airline.
They said they were paid about four days of sick leave before being stood down and losing further access to that leave.
"Qantas workers have been distressed by their inability to access their personal leave entitlements while on stand down," Australian Workers' Union national secretary Dan Walton said.
"One worker who made a submission to the court has heart failure and cannot access sick leave, another can't use his carer's leave to look after his wife who had a stroke and their six-month-old baby.
"Just imagine the stress they are under. For workers like these and many others, this decision will be a bitter disappointment."
