Mining company faces class action over public holiday work claims

A class action has been launched against one of Australia's largest mining companies, months after a Federal Court ruling found that a subsidiary had improperly required employees to work on public holidays.

The class action, which will be run by Sydney-based AEN Legal on behalf of two lead plaintiffs, will be funded by the Mining and Energy Union (MEU). The action potentially covers about 7,000 employees who were employed by Operations Services (OS), a subsidiary of the mining company, between December 2019 and March 2023.

MEU Queensland president Mitch Hughes said that during this time, OS employed people across coal mines in Queensland and NSW, iron ore operations in WA, and copper mines in SA.

"That'll probably narrow down, depending on the scope," he said.

Mr Hughes said the employees' concerns included a lack of consultation by OS management before allocating shifts.

"In some cases, we heard accounts from the workforce where everyone's name was simply put into a hat, and they were selected [to work public holidays]."

He said that typically, the company would run a "skeleton crew" across Christmas and Boxing Day, and described the decision to keep the mines running at full production in recent years as "ruling with an iron fist".

In a statement, the company said that the "proceedings remain before the Court and no findings have been made in relation to the claims". It said it would not comment further because the matter was "ongoing".

Mr Hughes said the court action was designed to build on last year's Federal Court decision, which was specific to the Daunia mine workers of 2019. In his judgement, Justice Darryl Rangiah detailed some of the circumstances in which the miners left their families to work on Christmas and Boxing Day.

"In one instance, a single mother paid $500 for a babysitter for her two children when she went to work. In another, a man missed out on time in New Zealand with his young daughter, who he had planned to visit. Others said they were able to spend some time at Christmas celebrations, but were forced to depart early to attend work, upsetting family members."

The company has appealed the Federal Court decision, which is set to be heard on November 9.