Action taken against Jetstar by the Fair Work Ombudsman in the Federal Court has seen the airline fined a total of $90,000 for unlawfully charging six cadet pilots for training costs and making deductions from their wages.
The six pilots were recruited between October 2010 and January 2011, and were employed in individual contracts by a New Zealand-based Jetstar subsidiary company during their training. Despite advice that wage deductions contravened workplace laws, the subsidiary deducted monies from the cadets’ wages between June and September 2011, before a complaint by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) saw the practice halted and the money was refunded later that year.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is conducting ongoing actions against other Jetstar companies including Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd and Singapore-based partner Valuair Limited where it is alleged cabin crew employed by Valuair and another company to work on Jetstar’s Australian domestic flights for Jetstar were also subject to Australian workplace laws.
