Judge Lee rebukes Qantas workers' lawyers over $120M compensation delays

Justice Michael Lee sat in a Sydney courtroom on Wednesday and delivered a sharp rebuke to Maurice Blackburn, the law firm tasked with distributing $120 million in compensation to nearly 1,820 workers fired by Qantas during the pandemic. The firm had missed a July 31 deadline to complete the payouts and was asking for more time. Lee was not sympathetic.

"Court orders are not like the traffic lights in Palermo," the judge said, invoking the Sicilian capital's famously anarchic traffic culture where red lights are treated as suggestions. "They are not there merely to be observed when it is thought convenient to do so." The message was unmistakable: Maurice Blackburn had breached its obligations, and there would be consequences.

What particularly angered Lee was the timing of the disclosure. The law firm had known for months that delays were accumulating, yet only flagged the problem in mid-June—with the deadline just weeks away. "What ought not occur is that the court is presented, at one minute to midnight, with what was presented as a fait accompli," Lee said. He rejected the firm's request to extend the deadline and scheduled a full hearing for August 6 to determine what penalties might apply. In the meantime, Maurice Blackburn would be in breach of court orders.

The broader context makes the delay sting harder. These workers have been waiting more than five years for money they are owed. Qantas unlawfully sacked them in 2020, partly to prevent them from exercising their legal right to strike as they negotiated for better pay. The airline has agreed to pay $120 million in compensation. A year ago, Lee also imposed a $90 million penalty on Qantas, with $40 million designated for the workers. Yet only $5 million of the entire $130 million pool has actually reached their hands.

Maurice Blackburn says the delay stems from the complexity of the task. The firm has assembled a team of about 40 people, including external experts, to sift through more than 17,500 individual tax documents and calculate the precise financial and intangible losses each worker suffered. Where documents are missing or incorrect, the firm says it has tracked down claimants to help them locate the material. But the workers themselves have grown impatient. Some have accused the firm of using unnecessarily technical calculations as cover for foot-dragging, and of demanding years of documents that many simply do not possess.

Lee signalled he has lost confidence in Maurice Blackburn's process. He suggested the court may need to take over distribution of at least part of the remaining penalty money rather than wait for the firm to finish its calculations. The judge emphasized that his intention is for "the money to be in the hands of the workers and not the court," but he appeared ready to bypass the firm if necessary. The court currently controls more than $35 million awaiting distribution.

Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers' Union, which brought the original case against Qantas in 2020, expressed frustration. "These workers, backed by their union, won this case against all odds when not even the Coalition government was standing up to Qantas' decision," he said. "Maurice Blackburn added its experience, having fought and won other significant worker cases. But now it needs to step up to deliver the compensation these workers deserve into their pockets." The firm declined to comment on the hearing. The next court date will reveal whether Lee follows through on his warning.