- Women claim they were raped and stalked at Fortescue
- Some were sexually harassed on a daily basis
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Female workers are suing billionaire Twiggy Forrest’s mining company over claims they were raped, sexually assaulted and stalked – and managers tried to cover it up.
The details were laid bare in a landmark class action against Fortescue Metals Group lodged by law firm JGA Saddler in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Thursday.
It comes after similar cases filed in 2024 against Rio Tinto and BHP, which included claims of widespread sexual harassment, sexual violence and discrimination.
JGA Saddler special counsel Paris Hamrey told media she spoke to thousands of women for those two cases, and Fortescue ‘kept coming up’.
‘The conduct at Fortescue does seem to be as bad, if not worse,’ she said.
Claims against Fortescue include women being warned not to wash their underwear in communal laundry facilities because male colleagues would steal them.
Some women said their male co-workers stalked them ‘like an animal’ while going to the toilet in the bush, and then followed them back to their rooms.
One man said to a female colleague: ‘Why don’t you f*** the crew, you will make yourself feel better.’
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest (pictured) owns Fortescue Metals Group. He is not personally accused of any wrongdoing
A class action has been filed against Fortescue
Another reported being told, ‘girls don’t belong in mining’ and, ‘you sl*ts report us and then we get the sack’.
Someone else said she was given a deed of release and told she had ‘resigned’ after telling her bosses she was pregnant.
One woman was told to ‘get over it’ when she went back to work after her son was stillborn.
Others were subjected to sexual comments when blowing into breathalysers, bending down to pick something up, and being named in lewd bathroom graffiti.
When sexual advances were rejected, the women were allegedly subjected to sexual assault, violence and retaliation.
Those who lodged complaints were allegedly dismissed, demoted or blacklisted from the mining industry.
Ms Hamrey said: ‘Because of the culture at Fortescue, women are too scared to report and too scared to speak up.’
‘Women can’t even do the day-to-day act of doing their washing. Women can’t go to gym at normal times because they’re too scared.
Pictured: Fortescue Metals Group’s Christmas Creek iron ore operations in the Pilbara region, WA
‘One lady told me she walked into the dining hall and the men started howling at her.’
Mining sites named in the class action include Port Hedland, Christmas Creek, Cloudbreak, Eliwana, Solomon and Iron Bridge. They are all in WA.
JGA Saddler asked the Federal Court to redact the names in court documents due to safety concerns for the lead two applicants.
The firm expects thousands of former workers to come forward and join the class action.
A Fortescue spokesperson told media they could not comment on a class action proceeding that had not yet started.
‘Fortescue is committed to providing a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace for all employees and contractors,’ they said.
‘Sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination and other behaviour that makes people feel unsafe, have no place at Fortescue.’
