Women say they were demoted or blacklisted after reporting harassment
A class action filed against Fortescue Metals Group last week alleges women who reported sexual harassment were dismissed or demoted.
Brisbane law firm JGA Saddler lodged the claim in the Federal Court's Victorian registry on Thursday. It covers women employed at Fortescue's Australian sites and accommodation camps between 1 February 2006 and 5 December 2025.
JGA Saddler litigator Paris Hamrey said: "There have been reports of sexual assault, violence, and retaliation, especially when female staff reject sexual advances." She added that women "are then dismissed, demoted, silenced, or blacklisted from the industry" after lodging complaints.
Retaliation claim echoes earlier cases
The allegation mirrors claims in class actions JGA Saddler filed against Rio Tinto and BHP in late 2024, which remain before the courts. In those cases, women alleged they were demoted, dismissed or discriminated against after reporting incidents. Fortescue's case is the third such proceeding against a major Australian miner in under two years.
The claim follows a 2021 Western Australian inquiry, which found sexual harassment and assault were widespread in the fly-in, fly-out mining sector. BHP and Rio Tinto have said they do not currently use confidentiality agreements when handling sexual harassment complaints.
Fortescue's chief executive for metals and operations, Dino Otranto, acknowledged the pattern. He said: "This isn't the first class action we've seen in the industry over the past few years. That said, these are extremely serious allegations, and Fortescue takes them very seriously." He added that the company remained committed to "maintaining an open and inclusive workplace" but acknowledged "more work to do."
Anti-retaliation duties face new scrutiny
Australia’s positive duty provisions under the Sex Discrimination Act require employers to take proactive action against victimisation as well as harassment, with the Australian Human Rights Commission empowered to investigate compliance. PwC’s positive-duty guidance for the mining sector recommends employers assess psychosocial risks and embed them within safety-management frameworks.
Model work health and safety codes adopted by Australian jurisdictions classify bullying and harassment as psychosocial hazards and provide enforceable or authoritative compliance guidance, depending on the jurisdiction.
Fortescue reported 22 harassment cases to Western Australia's mines regulator in the 2025 financial year, down 27% from the prior year, the only decrease of the three miners facing claims, US News reported. Rio Tinto logged 702 incidents, up 24%, and BHP recorded 429, up 3%, with about 100 people found responsible fired or resigning.
Forrest tells staff to expect consequences
Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest emailed all staff after the claim was filed, ABC News reported. He wrote: "Anyone who thinks this behaviour has a place at Fortescue is in the wrong company." He said losing a job was "the beginning of the consequences, not the end." He added that the company would support staff and expected "the law to take its course" where conduct was criminal.
The company has said it spent $300 million upgrading site security, including deadlocks, CCTV and swipe-card access. In 2023, Fortescue was ordered to pay more than $1.4 million addressing workplace conduct after failing to give harassment documents to WA's regulator.
A Fortescue spokesperson said in a statement to ABC: "Sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination and other behaviour that makes people feel unsafe have no place at Fortescue." The Rio Tinto and BHP proceedings remain unresolved, leaving the retaliation allegations in all three cases untested in court.
