The mining giant reverses course days after defending its choice to keep the unnamed executive working during the inquiry
Fortescue has suspended a senior executive from all duties while an external investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and bullying continues, reversing a decision made just a week earlier to keep the employee working during the probe.
The Perth-headquartered iron ore producer confirmed the move today (25 August), saying the change followed further external legal and governance advice.
A Fortescue spokeswoman said: "It has been decided that the employee who is the subject of the allegations will not undertake any work for Fortescue while the investigation continues. The investigation is ongoing and no findings have been made. Sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination and any behaviour that makes people feel unsafe have no place at Fortescue."
The executive cannot be named for legal reasons, and the allegations against them have not been proven.
A reversal after a week of scrutiny
Law firm MinterEllison's Brisbane office was engaged in July after an employee raised a complaint through Fortescue's internal processes. Just last week, Gus Pichot, Fortescue's chief executive of growth and energy, defended keeping the executive at work, telling an earnings call the company had "taken extensive external legal and governance advice" and was confident it was following the proper process. Fortescue has not detailed what changed in the intervening days.
The probe lands alongside a Federal Court class action filed in June 2026 by law firm JGA Saddler, alleging Fortescue failed to protect women at its Australian worksites from sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile workplace between February 2006 and December 2025 – allegations HRD Australia has reported on in detail as the case widened to a third major miner.
It follows a pattern of regulatory friction for the company, which previously settled a dispute with WorkSafe over withheld harassment case documents.
According to Fortescue's FY26 annual report, lodged with the ASX in August 2026, the company recorded 98 "psychosocial" matters in the year – including 13 cases of inappropriate sexual contact, 10 of sexual harassment and one alleged sexual assault – down about 20 per cent on the prior year, and dismissed 11 staff over related code-of-conduct breaches.
Dino Otranto, Fortescue's chief executive of metals and operations, said: "We take this matter extremely seriously across the entire organisation."
Sexual harassment at Western Australian mine sites has been under sustained scrutiny since a 2021–22 Western Australian parliamentary inquiry into the fly-in, fly-out mining sector, which documented widespread misconduct.
Other major miners, including BHP, have also faced scrutiny over harassment reports and dismissals in the years since.
