It’s the first time uniform work health and safety laws have been tested in criminal court. The SafeWork NSW case was prompted by a complaint from the Transport Workers Union (TWU) on behalf of Seremetidis,who had also expressed concerns with the business over the inadequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Judge David Russell upheld one of the three charges brought and said Qantas ground services “actively sidelined” Seremetidis by cutting him off from staff,standing him down and barring him from the airport.
“I find that[Qantas] saw the giving of the directions by Seremetidis to cease work as a threat to the conduct of business,and in particular,a threat to the ability of[Qantas] to clean and service aircraft and get them back in the air,” Russell said on Thursday morning.
Qantas launched an investigation into Seremetidis’ conduct soon after standing him down. He never returned to his role because he was one of 1700 ground staff whose jobs were outsourced one month later.
This outsourcing was recentlyfound to be unlawful by the High Court following an appeal by Qantas after successive losses in the Federal Court.
The other two charges brought by SafeWork NSW relating to additional matters were dismissed.