<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Qantas should be forced to pay the maximum penalty of $121 million for illegally outsourcing the roles of 1800 ground workers, to send a strong message to all companies, a union says. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justice Michael Lee is set to decide the penalty Qantas must pay after three days of hearings that began today in the Federal Court in Sydney.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Outside court, Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said the hearing was the beginning of the end of "a protracted, brutal, distressing set of litigation" that started in 2020 after Qantas sacked the workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/european-union-seeks-defence-pact-with-australia/ce1fbe59-0cb6-4756-9f85-946d9eb9cf4b" target="_blank"><strong><span>European Union seeking defence pact with Australia</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Qantas appealed the case all the way to the High Court, which unanimously upheld the Federal Court's finding it had breached the Fair Work Act by outsourcing the workers, preventing them from accessing industrial rights to collectively bargain and take protected industrial action.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Last October, Justice Lee </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/qantas-sacked-baggage-handlers-120-million-dollars-payout/5d83ac08-a0d5-478e-aad6-549dcf89b7c3" rel="" target="" title="ordered Qantas to pay $120 million to the workers"><span>ordered Qantas to pay $120 million to the workers</span></a><span> as compensation for  their economic loss, pain and suffering, and the TWU is seeking that he impose the maximum penalty of $121 million.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We have to send a very strong, clear signal to Qantas and every other company in Australia that this can never, ever happen again to any Australian worker," Kaine said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/qantas-sorry-qantas-could-face-121m-fine-for-sackings/12b0d293-051a-4ee9-ac25-0a9155da476b" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In court, Qantas chief people officer Catherine Walsh told Justice Lee that "hopefully you'll see from the size of the compensation payment that, in fact, we are very sorry".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/joe-biden-diagnosed-with-aggressive-prostate-cancer/e9ddc669-72e2-458c-9f00-8bb4c0e70af4" target="_blank"><strong><span>Donald Trump's surprise message after Joe Biden's cancer revelation</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We do wish for the workforce that was impacted to be properly remediated and the compensation that has been agreed could go some way to deal with that," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The compensation payments will start flowing to workers by the end of May, with a base payment of $10,000 for all workers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Outside court, Kaine said Qantas had "said sorry at two minutes to midnight".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They put it in an affidavit in these proceedings, because if you show contrition in penalty proceedings, the judge is bound to consider whether that should provide you with a discount on your penalty," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he said the penalty should reflect the "human suffering, the family dislocation, the financial stress, the mental anguish, the family breakdowns" directly resulting from Qantas' illegal conduct.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Also outside court, former Qantas worker Tony Hayes said the saga was "never ending".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's been the same conversation for five years and we just want it to go away, but we want them to pay," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another former worker Anne Guirguis said she was with the company for 28 years and thought she would retire there.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I've got colleagues that have lost houses and have been divorced, it's changed their world," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This afternoon, Justice Lee is expected to start hearing closing submissions from lawyers for Qantas and the TWU.</span></div></div>