Qantas repays more than $7m to staff it underpaid for up to eight years

The Fair Work Ombudsman has said Qantas is paying back millions of dollars to hundreds of workers it underpaid for up to eight years. The airline had so far paid back $7.1m to 638 staff at head office who were underpaid between June 2011 and June 2019, the ombudsman said Friday. The airline self-reported it had incorrectly paid some marketing and administrative staff in accordance with their individual contracts, rather than their relevant enterprise agreements that covered them, the ombudsman, Sandra Parker, said. As a result, they didn’t receive the minimum terms of those agreements, such as overtime, minimum wages and annual leave entitlements, she said. Under a court-enforceable undertaking, Qantas has agreed to repay all workers, with interest, and give each affected worker an additional $1,000 payment by 24 April. A spreadsheet on the ombudsman’s website indicates most workers will receive a few thousand dollars but some will get significantly more, with one worker who did not get payment for their on-call overtime set to receive $141,717.66.<br/>