Six Brisbane aircraft maintenance engineers claim they were unfairly stood down for three months after they reported faulty cockpit doors on 20 Qantas aircraft could be opened with Paddle Pop sticks.
The airline faces fines up to $33,000 if found to have taken "adverse action" against the six engineers.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association is pursuing the airline in the Federal Court on behalf of the six QantasLink employees, under "adverse action" provisions of the Fair Work Act.
Barrister Eugene White, for the union, said each of the six engineers were stood down, docked four hours' pay and had an official warning letter for misconduct placed on their permanent record after they reported faults with the cockpit doors of the Dash 8 planes, operated by Qantas subsidiary Sunstate Airlines.
Mr White told the Federal Court today one engineer noted on October 16 last year that the cockpit door could be opened by leaning against an adjacent toilet wall in the plane.
Another engineer discovered the cockpit doors could be opened with an ice-cream stick or a rolled-up boarding pass the following day.
Four other engineers noted the same defect in more planes the next day.
The court heard each engineer received a letter from Qantas later that month, accusing them of misconduct and claimed the complaints were part of unauthorised union action.
"In effect it's alleged that the men didn't perform their work in good faith, that they colluded to cause damage to Sunstate, and that it was part of industrial action," Mr White said.
"It is alleged they raised these defects as part of a campaign."
QantasLink engineers were involved in industrial action over an enterprise bargaining agreement at the time the defects were found, but Mr White told the court there was no evidence to suggest "there was any industrial action taken other than the authorised industrial action".
Outside the court, ALAEA secretary Steve Purvinas said the six engineers were "threatened, intimidated and bullied" by their employer over the incident.
"These engineers received threatening letters and were stood down for three months not knowing what their future was. When they were finally allowed back to work, an official misconduct warning was placed on each of their files," he said.
"I would like to see the names of our members cleared and see Qantas fined for the second time for taking adverse action against its employees."
The union is acting under new provisions in the Fair Work Act which allows employees to bring an "adverse action" claim against their employer where a workplace right has been breached or is threatened to be breached.
In a written statement, a Qantas spokesman maintained the grounding of the six aircraft was part of industrial action against the airline and there was "no airworthiness or safety issue" with the cockpit doors.
"The cockpit doors on all QantasLink turboprop aircraft meet all relevant aviation security regulatory and manufacturer requirements," he said.
"At the time these employees said that the cockpit doors were unsafe all of these aircraft were fully airworthy.
"Both the Office of Transport Security and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigated the alleged door issue and found that there were the cockpit doors were fully compliant with their standards."
Sunstate Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, operates 21 QantasLink planes flying to 23 destinations in Australia.
The Federal Court hearing, before Justice John Logan, is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
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