Qantas has been ordered to pay three former staff $170,000 in a court decision expected to establish a hefty compensation bill for hundreds of unlawfully sacked workers.

In the Federal Court on Monday, Justice Michael Lee ordered Qantas pay the $170,000 to Christopher Carney, Nicholas Bennett and Leonie Piggott, who were used as test cases during a lengthy hearing in March and May.

It follows Qantas’s decision to outsource almost 1700 ground staff jobs in November 2020, which the Transport Workers’ Union has fought.

The workers were all jettisoned out of the airline by March 2021.

In July 2021, the judge found the lay-offs were designed to deprive workers of being able to bargain for a new enterprise agreement and, as such, contravened employment law.

The union hopes the amounts ordered for the three workers in the test cases will form the basis for the total amount that Qantas agrees to pay the affected staff in future negotiations.

“Today is finally the day of justice after over four years, after having to go now to four different courts, including the highest court in the land which unanimously, of course, found that Qantas acted illegally in sacking these 1700 workers. Well, guess what? Today is your day,” TWU assistant state secretary Nick McIntosh said outside court.

“Importantly, the Federal Court has today sent a powerful message to corporate Australia that if you engage in this sort of behaviour, you will be held to account. You will be ordered to compensate people.”

Lee awarded Carney and Piggott $30,000 and $40,000 respectively due to their hurt, humiliation and psychological distress from being made redundant.

He awarded Bennett $100,000 after finding the lay-offs had triggered a major psychiatric illness in him, with symptoms including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance and problematic alcohol use.

After four years of legal skirmishes, Lee urged the union and airline to resolve any further disputes about the final amount of compensation payable and any penalties imposed on Qantas.

“Apart from any public benefit, finality would help bring a degree of closure to those affected workers who have been wronged, particularly for those who experienced emotional and financial stress,” he said.

Lawyers from both sides must still determine a final compensation figure for the income lost by the 1700 sacked staff. The ruling means Qantas faces a substantial bill that McIntosh estimated could top $100 million.

“We will be saying to the court – given this is the biggest illegal sacking by a country mile in Australian history, 1700 workers – that Qantas should now pay in excess of $100 million in penalties. This should be worth more than $200 million when all is said and done at the end of this,” he said.

There were cheers and applause outside court after Lee’s decision.

One former Qantas worker, Don Dixon, said many families had struggled since the mass sackings.

“Losing your job as quickly and as brutally as it was, it was a horrible thing. This compensation will go a long way of paying people’s mortgages and giving them some hope that all isn’t lost when you group together and you have that fight,” he said.

Another former Qantas worker, Damien Pollard, turned to a famous line from the movie The Castle to describe his feelings.

“I was an extremely proud Qantas worker [and I] just want to quote a famous solicitor in Australian folklore, but it’s the vibe of the
thing – can you feel it?” he said.

“I spent the last four years fielding hundreds of phone calls from my members in Canberra, people that are going through personal problems and mental health issues that were caused by this decision. So today’s judgment by Justice Lee goes some way to facilitating a little bit of recovery from all that and hopefully allowing for us to move on with our lives.”

Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson apologised to the affected workers on Monday, saying the company would work to expedite compensation.

“We recognise the emotional and financial impact this has had on these people and their families,” she said.

“We hope that this provides closure to those who have been affected.”

Lee found that the workers would have been retrenched by late 2021 anyway, given that the airline had a “laser-like” focus on cutting costs without regard for its employees.

The matter will return to court on November 15, when the judge will hear submissions about the total compensation sum payable by Qantas.

The TWU is also seeking penalties against the airline.

In December 2021, Lee rejected a bid by the union to have the workers reinstated at Qantas after finding that proposal was impractical.

His findings that the terminations were unlawful were unsuccessfully appealed by Qantas in the Full Federal Court and High Court.

-with AAP