Qantas faces $325,000 underpayment allegations   
Financial Review
Nov 14, 2019

Qantas Airways will fight underpayment allegations in the Federal Circuit Court after the engineers' union accused the airline of skimping $325,000 from workers.

Qantas is facing fresh underpayment allegations from engineers.

The statement of claim filed with the court this week captures 20 licensed aircraft maintenance engineers. They say the airline failed to progress them through the graded wage structure laid out in their enterprise agreement.

Qantas is said to owe one engineer more than $56,000, and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association says there is more strife to come.

"The total amount of wage underpayments may amount to over $10 million," ALAEA federal secretary Steve Parvinas said. However, Qantas strongly rejected this figure.

He told The Australian Financial Review there were 1000 more ALAEA members at Qantas who had yet to have their pay audited. Further, the figures in the statement of claim did not include unpaid super or shift penalties.   


Mr Parvinas said the court action was one of last resort, after previously informing Qantas of potential underpayments in January last year that went back to 2013.

The court action is the latest in a string of underpayment scandals rocking corporate Australia. In 2019 alone, household names like the ABC, Woolworths and Commonwealth Bank have admitted to underpaying workers.   

Qantas joined that group in February in a separate issue where 55 workers were underpaid and then reimbursed. At the time, the airline said the error leading to the underpayments had also resulted in it overpaying more than 160 workers.

Mr Parvinas said the legal system had encouraged corporations to push the boundaries of acceptable behaviour due to a lack of appropriate deterrents.

"What kind of a society have we developed when a kid can get a criminal record for taking a candy bar from a store, while managers can knowingly keep millions in owed worker entitlements and walk free," he said.   

The union secretary wants Qantas to complete a full audit of its engineering staff and repay whatever it owes.

"The executives wouldn't accept their wages late, yet these Qantas workers have to fight it out in a courtroom to get their owed entitlements." he said.

Qantas, in a statement, said it was committed to paying its workers correctly and noted that what was before the court related to back-pay issues.

"In this case, there is a complicated system that determines how our licensed engineers move between pay brackets. Errors in this system could result in a combination of under and overpayments to individuals," Qantas said.

"In terms of the specific instances raised by the ALAEA in court documents, Qantas has already made adjustments to pay levels where required.

"What is at issue is the correct level of back pay, which Qantas has been working in good faith to determine but is now engaged in needless court proceedings over."

The Federal Circuit Court will hear the matter during its first court date on February 17 in Sydney.

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Nov 15^th, 2019 at 5:17am:

Just great. The rules are too complex. Woolies, Bunnings and CBA have all been caught. Now it takes a federal court judge and a queue of lawyers with funny wigs to work it out. Simple my arse.

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Nov 15^th, 2019 at 1:00pm:


Yes, too complex. If you need lawyers and accountants to manage a payroll it is too complex. Woolies found the problem themselves after an internal audit. Must be real easy since a throng of employees didn't seem to know either.

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Nov 15^th, 2019 at 1:34pm:

They would have dedicated payroll staff already. It's so complicated that even the employees are unaware of what is due to them.

greggerypeccary wrote on Nov 15^th, 2019 at 2:24pm:

You really are a total fukkwit. The process and rules are complex not the act of handing out the money.

greggerypeccary wrote on Nov 15^th, 2019 at 2:37pm:


So says Peccerhead. Reality is different.

Now the federal court needs to decide with a string of men in wigs. Simple my arse. Take your socks off, you might make it to twenty.