Former Jetstar employee fired from her job ‘acted out deliberate plan’ not to get vaccinated

A one-time Jetstar employee who was fired for refusing to comply with Covid vaccine mandates has lost her legal battle against the airline after a court found her dismissal was just and reasonable. 

Annunziata ‘Tina’ Cinque worked at the budget airline for more than 10 years in a variety of roles including as airport duty manager in Melbourne and domestic terminal team leader.  

That’s until she was sacked on April 28 after failing to provide a medical exemption for being unvaccinated. 

The Melbourne woman took her case to the Fair Work Commission on August 10, claiming a pharmacist refused to give her the jab after she said she was at the appointment ‘under coercion’. 

Ms Cinque was initially required to provide evidence that she was vaccinated by November 15 last year, but the airline pushed her deadline to March 31 this year. 

On March 18, the long-term airline employee went to Pharmacy 4 Less in Reservoir, Melbourne, where she signed a consent form confirming she agreed to receive a Covid-19 jab. 

The Melbourne woman made an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccination but told the pharmacist she received a ‘draconian threat’ from her employee and advised injecting her would violate federal health guidelines (STOCK IMAGE)

After the pharmacist named Hinad took Ms Cinque to a room to vaccinate her, the Jetstar employee told the medical professional she was only there because she had received a ‘draconian threat’ from the airline.

‘I informed the pharmacist; Hinad that I attended involuntarily, under pressure, coercion, manipulation, and threat of termination of my employment,’ Ms Cinque told the commission.

‘I also advised the injecting practitioner that Federal Health Department Immunisation Guidelines ‘PROHIBITS’ injecting persons… attending under undue pressure, coercion or manipulation to be injected. 

‘The sacking threat made against me constitutes undue pressure, coercion or manipulation to be injected or be sacked.’ 

Ms Cinque also asked Hinad to sign a ‘template document’ that said she was prohibited from administering the vaccination, and that if she did so she would be committing a criminal act and would face criminal and civil legal action.

Ms Cinque told the Pharmacy 4 Less pharmacist she was there to get a vaccination ‘involuntarily’ after being ‘coerced’ by the airline. She then told the unsuspecting pharmacist it would therefore being against federal health rules for her to vaccinate the Jetstar staffer

The pharmacist said, in light of what Ms Cinque had told her, she was not prepared to give her the vaccination and refused to sign the letter.  

Two weeks later, on April 1, Ms Cinque was told by Jetstar she was going to be fired and was asked to give reasons why she shouldn’t be.

On April 6, Ms Cinque replied, saying she did not obey the direction to get vaccinated, that she had attended her scheduled appointment and that it was the pharmacist who refused to inject her.  

Ms Cinque was represented by Glenn Floyd, an unpaid representative, at the Fair Work Commission.

Two days before the hearing started, on August 8, Mr Floyd and Ms Cinque sought an order requiring the attendance of both Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans.

Jetstar falls under Qantas Group, which is run by Mr Joyce.  

Ms Cinque’s representative at the commission tried to get Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce to appear

At the hearing on August 10, Mr Floyd explained the reason for wanting the two CEOs at the hearing – because Ms Cinque ‘wishes to face her accusers’.

He also said ‘questions would be put to them that showed they breached her contract of employment and committed other unlawful acts’. 

Fair Work Commissioner Bernadette O’Neill was not satisfied ‘there was sufficient relevance or value’ to the two CEOs appearing.

In her decision, Commissioner O’Neill found Ms Cinque ‘acted out a conscious and deliberate plan’ hatched by Mr Floyd to get a ‘formal record of not being vaccinated’.   

‘Ms Cinque chose to take the template document with her to the pharmacy and to tell the pharmacist that she was unwilling to receive the vaccine voluntarily,’ Commissioner O’Neil wrote. 

‘The template document… makes it crystal clear that Ms Cinque was not, in fact, consenting to be vaccinated, irrespective of having earlier signed a consent form.’

The Fair Work Commission noted Jetstar (pictured) was lawful and reasonable in terminating Ms Cinque’s contract. It further found Ms Cinque ‘acted out a conscious and deliberate plan’ to get a ‘formal record of not being vaccinate

The commission further found Jetstar had a ‘valid reason’ for Ms Cinque’s termination and that their mandatory vaccination policy was ‘lawful and reasonable.’ 

In September 2021 Jetstar introduced a Covid-19 vaccination policy which explained the likely outcome of non-compliant employees would be termination. 

Jetstar told Daily Mail Australia it ‘stands by’ the development and introduction of its Covid-19 policy.

 ‘We stand by our vaccination policy and the way it was developed and introduced,’ Jetstar said.

‘Safety is core to Qantas and Jetstar’s operations and was a key consideration for our decision on vaccinations for employees. 

‘While the Qantas Group was the first ASX-listed company to introduce such a policy, since then all domestic airlines in Australia and many overseas have introduced similar requirements for their workforce.’