Women take on mining giants in sexual harassment class action cases

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — Lawyers for women who claim they’ve been sexually harassed while working for global mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto say they’ve been inundated with emails since filing two class action cases in an Australian court.

The separate lawsuits, which were filed in the Federal Court in Sydney and revealed Wednesday by law firm JGA Saddler, alleges widespread and systematic sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the two companies’ worksites over the last two decades.

Joshua Aylward, a JGA Saddler lawyer, said he had spoken to hundreds of women in the past 18 months who described accusations of abuse, many of whom he said had been afraid to speak out for fear of workplace reprisal.

“Many of these women make complaints out on these sites. And it’s like it’s the 1980s where no one believes what has happened to them, or it is just tolerated,” he said.

CNN has not seen the filings but claims from the two lead applicants were included in a lengthy document distributed to media that detail allegations of sexual harassment, assault, unwanted advances and lewd behavior that made them feel unsafe at work.

The lawsuit claims women had been urinated on and groped, Aylward said. The law firm has chosen not to name the lead applicants for fear of retaliation.

“This is a safety issue for women,” said Aylward. “BHP and Rio know that when you send women to these sites, it is unsafe for them, and they are still happy to send them out there.”

In separate statements, BHP and Rio Tinto said they were aware of the claims and that their companies do not tolerate sexual harassment.

According to Aylward, the applicants’ claims have been the subject of mediation since the start of the year, but the parties were unable to reach agreement, which prompted the move to the Federal Court.

‘Repeated sexual approaches’

One case was filed against BHP and the other against Rio Tinto. They are two of the world’s most valuable mining companies and each employs tens of thousands of people.

The lead applicant in the BHP case worked for the mining company as a driver of water trucks and dump trucks at sites in the states of Queensland and New South Wales.

She alleges a BHP contractor urinated on her when she rebuffed his advances, which came after “repeated sexual approaches and propositions,” including visits to her accommodation where he asked to be invited in for drinks.

The woman said she made a complaint about him but was never contacted and her contract was ended.

“There have been times I haven’t reported an incident for fear of what might happen to my career, my job and my personal safety,” she said.

Former BHP employee Angela Green, who has joined the class action suit, agreed to speak to lawyers without hiding her identity to expose her experience at the company.

Green was employed as part of the blast crew, handling explosives, but lost her job in April and refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Green said she was accused of giving out sexual favors to take advantage of the company’s awards system. During questioning by two male executives, she was asked who she was sleeping with. They later recommended she be fired.

“I have been fighting and fighting to get my job back because I like my job and I have done no wrong,” she said according to a statement distributed by JGA Saddler. Green said she had also been accused of falsifying a log book, which she denies.

In its response to CNN, BHP said it had yet to receive a copy of what has been filed and could not speak to specific allegations.

BHP said on its website it received 417 reports of sexual harassment during the 2024 financial year and had verified 100 incidents, including a sexual assault and 22 instances of unwanted touching. More than 100 people had left the company as a result, either by termination or resignation.

The company phased out non-disclosure agreements from March 2019, and is no longer binding people to them.

The lead applicant in the Rio Tinto case worked for the firm as a fly-in fly-out security guard assigned to the company’s mine sites in Western Australia.

She told lawyers that inappropriate comments of a sexual nature were made weekly, and every month or so, colleagues would touch her inappropriately by rubbing themselves against her or touching her bottom or breasts as they passed.

Crude jokes were told, including about rape, she said, and one colleague even sent her a video of himself masturbating while she was on maternity leave.

He was allowed to resign, rather than be terminated. But after she complained about the inappropriate behavior, she says she was “overlooked for opportunities to upskill.”

“Standing up and saying something has come at a huge professional and personal cost but until women in mining join together and say, ‘no more’ these big companies will continue to cover it up,” she said.

BHP and Rio Tinto condemn behavior

Claims about the sexual bullying and harassment of women at Australia’s mine sites are not new – and in recent years both BHP and Rio Tinto have vowed to stamp it out.

Rio Tinto commissioned an external review into its workplace in 2022, conducted by former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, after a parliamentary inquiry found widespread sexual harassment and assault in the mining industry.

A progress report released last month found that while most recommendations to improve its culture had been implemented, “harmful” behavior was still “a challenge” at the company.

It noted that while reports of gender-based bullying had increased “across all genders” in the last three years, the largest increase was against women.

“This change can be explained by a range of factors including increasing retaliation in the form of gendered bullying as a response to Rio Tinto’s efforts to promote gender diversity and inclusion,” it said in the report.

In response to the class action case, a Rio Tinto spokesperson said the company doesn’t tolerate any form of sexual harassment or sex-based harassment and it is “absolutely committed to creating safe, respectful, and inclusive workplaces.”

BHP also said it was committed to providing a safe and respectful workplace.

“We deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to anyone who has ever experienced any form of harassment at BHP,” a spokesperson said.

“For many years, we have been focused on identifying, calling out and dealing with instances of disrespectful behaviour, including sexual harassment, racism and bullying,” the BHP statement said.

Aylward said the cases could take years to resolve, or less time if the companies decide to settle without challenging the women’s complaints.

“For these women, they want to see genuine action and genuine change on these sites,” he said.

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