A court ordered Qantas Airways to pay a combined A$170,000 ($114,000) to three of the airport ground workers it fired in the fire and rehire scheme in 2020, already deemed illegal.
The airline let 1,700 former workers go whose jobs were then outsourced.
Judge Michael Lee said Qantas must pay for non-economic loss for their firing and all their other colleagues.
The carrier will now use these three payouts as ‘test cases’ to agree payouts to all others with the union.
It could cost the company up to A$100 million, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) says.
Last year a court found the airline guilty of illegally firing the workers.
The airline recently agreed a settlement to pay more than A$100 million for selling tickets on ‘ghost flights’ that Qantas knowingly had no intention of flying.
“Qantas says it’s turned over a new leaf,” said Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers Union.
“It’s time to prove it. After relentlessly prolonging this case and denying workers justice, Qantas must do everything in its power to ensure appropriate compensation.”
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said: “We know that the onus is on Qantas to learn from this”.