Khattabi v Jetstar Airways Pty Limited

The Federal Court has refused an application that a judge recuse herself from an employment and whistleblower proceeding against Jetstar Airways Pty Limited and Qantas because of her membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge. The self represented applicant, a former Virgin Australia flight operations engineer, alleges that complaints he made about pilot training material in 2018 were workplace rights the exercise of which led Jetstar to refuse him a job in 2021, in contravention of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the whistleblower protection provisions of the Corporations Act 2001.

At a case management hearing, the applicant sought the judge's recusal on the basis that her Chairman's Lounge membership gave rise to apprehended bias in favour of the airline respondents. Justice Abraham dismissed the application, finding no evidence to support the applicant's assertion that judges decide cases in Qantas's favour because of lounge membership, and no logical connection between holding membership of the lounge and how the substantive issues in the case would be decided. The refusal addresses only the recusal application and does not determine the underlying adverse action and whistleblower claims, which continue.

The decision sets a practical threshold for when membership of a loyalty or similar commercial programme, without more, will support a recusal application on association grounds. It is relevant to practitioners assessing whether to bring a recusal application based on a judge's membership of an airline lounge or comparable scheme, and confirms that such membership alone, without evidence of a logical connection to the issues in dispute, is unlikely to succeed.