Qantas flight attendant’s sexual harassment claim dismissed

A former Qantas flight attendant has again failed to hold the airline accountable for alleged sexual harassment.

After almost two decades spent pursuing legal action, former long-haul flight attendant Sara Rossi had her latest proceedings tossed out by a Federal Court appeal bench on Wednesday (13 November) afternoon.

Justices John Snaden, Adam Hatcher and Christopher Horan upheld an August 2023 finding of Justice Katrina Banks-Smith that Rossi had the mental capacity to enter into a settlement deed with Qantas, which had the effect of releasing the airline from future legal action.

“Taking into account that the deed and the settlement involved no particular or unusual complexity, we consider … the findings amply support the inference that Rossi had the capacity to understand the settlement process she was engaging in,” the appeal bench said.

Rossi alleged that between 2001 and 2003, she was treated in an “aggressive and intimidating manner”, was warned against making a sexual harassment complaint, and told to be “personally vigilant” of drink spiking during layovers to avoid being assaulted.

In 2007, four years after she applied for voluntary redundancy, Rossi initiated proceedings in the County Court against Qantas for weekly compensation from July 2003 and medical expenses.

To support this, Rossi was assessed by a psychiatrist and found to be suffering from a major depressive disorder, associated anxiety and specific phobias. However, a second psychiatrist found the work-related issues were a “relatively minor factor”.

At a settlement conference in October 2008, Rossi signed the deed in exchange for $75,000 in compensation and $40,000 for legal costs.

Several weeks later, Rossi called her lawyer and refused to accept the settlement sum, but by then, the money had been paid into the firm’s trust account. When Rossi continued to refuse to accept it, the money was paid into the Supreme Court of Victoria’s funds in trust to hold.

Over the next decade, Rossi attempted to reagitate her claims against Qantas and eventually secured new legal representation to bring proceedings before Justice Banks-Smith.

Rossi had alleged she lacked the mental capacity to have entered the 2008 deed, but Justice Banks-Smith disagreed.

When these proceedings failed, Rossi alleged errors of law before the appeal bench but again came up short.