Australian flag carrier Qantas faces a hefty fine after it was found to have illegally fired 1700 workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021, it was ruled the carrier acted unlawfully when it sacked ground handling staff at over 11 airports, outsourcing roles to contractors.

Now the Australian High Court has rejected the airline’s appeal, with the matter returning to trial to determine the compensation owed to former employees.

Outside court, Transport Workers Union lawyer Josh Bornstein told News.com he estimated payouts would be “very, very substantial”.

Bornstein noted the 1700 roles represented the largest illegal sacking in Australia’s corporate history and the fines would likely amount to millions of dollars.

It was more egregious given Qantas accepted A$800 million ($860m) of a taxpayer-funded bailout to save jobs with the national airline.

Parliamentary secretary for industrial relations Mark Buttigieg called the ruling a “damning indictment” against the Qantas Group.

“I hope Qantas learns from this lesson, this litany of failures, and treating employees so shabbily, and comes to the party to do the right thing,” he said.

In a statement, Qantas repeatedly apologised, saying it was committed to reaching an agreement.

“Qantas sincerely apologises and deeply regrets the personal impact the outsourcing decision had on these former employees,” a spokesperson said.

“We want them to receive fair compensation as quickly as possible.”

Qantas ground handlers were not the only employees to feel wronged by the airline’s layoffs.

Last week the carrier was handed a A$250,000 fine for wrongfully dismissing a health and safety representative during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fine was handed out for “discriminatory conduct” after employee Theo Seremetidis was stood down alongside cleaning staff after they returned from a destination deemed to be a Covid-19 hotspot, according to Australian Aviation. Seremetidis was also awarded $21,000 in compensation.

In 2023, the Australian national carrier received further criticism after a job advertisement with the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia asked Qantas staff who took voluntary redundancy or resigned to return.

Last year, the carrier said it was looking to rehire 1500 roles among former staff now it was “back in profit”.

“As one of our cabin crew members who made an incredibly difficult decision to leave Qantas during the pandemic – we want to provide an update on how our recovery is going and the very different circumstances we’re operating in today,” read the jobs posting shared by disgruntled former staff.

Having accepted an almost $1 billion bailout 2020 and “underlying profit before tax of $2.47 billion″ in FY23, ex-cabin crew questioned if the large scale layoffs were necessary.