Shine Lawyers launches hunt for Rio workers harmed by workplace culture
Shine Lawyers has launched a hunt for potential litigants prepared to back a class action against Rio Tinto over the mining giant’s treatment of its workers.
Rio Tinto faces a potential class action lawsuit over its treatment of its workers, with Shine Lawyers launching a hunt for potential litigants prepared to back the suit.
Shine’s announcement that it is investigating the potential for the lawsuit comes as Rio’s workforce considers whether the company has made any progress since the damning findings of an external review into its culture were released in 2022.
The 2022 review, titled Everyday Respect, was run by former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick and found that workplace bullying was “normalised” in many of Rio’s global workforces.
The report found that more than 53 per cent of female workers reported bullying behaviour while working for Rio, with 28 per cent saying they had experienced sexual harassment. Confidential evidence collected by Ms Broderick and her team included 21 claims from Rio employees that said they had been the victims of sexual assault in the workplace.
In addition to being grim reading for Rio’s female workforce, Ms Broderick’s review also revealed that 30 per cent of Indigenous employees responding to the internal survey also reported being confronted with racist behaviour in the workplace.
Shine’s announcement that it is investigating a class action comes after Ms Broderick and her team returned to Rio this year to conduct a follow-up report, which is expected to deliver its findings by the end of the year.
Class actions’ practice leader at Shine, Sarah Thomson, said the law firm’s investigation was aimed at working out whether Rio could be held legally liable for the mistreatment of its workers, and whether the company had “failed to take adequate steps to eliminate discrimination and sexual harassment for employees as far as possible in its workplaces”.
“Under the Sex Discrimination Act, an employer can be held vicariously liable for harassment by employees if the employer did not take ‘all reasonable steps to prevent the employee from committing the harassment’,” she said.
Shine is not limiting its investigation to Australian operations, with its website seeking registration for the lawsuit from across Rio’s global operations.
A spokesman for Rio said it was aware Shine was investigating a potential class action.
“We take all concerns about workplace safety and culture including sexual discrimination and harassment very seriously,” he said. “The Everyday Respect report included recommendations to ensure the cultural change we’re making at Rio Tinto is implemented, embedded and its effectiveness monitored. This includes an independent review of our progress.
“Former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick is currently leading this independent review, and it is our intention to publish the report by the end of the year.”
More than 10,300 Rio employees responded to the written part of Ms Broderick’s original review, about 22 per cent of the global mining giant’s total workforce at the time. Ms Broderick and her staff also conducted 109 group meetings, which included a mechanism for staff to submit detailed confidential complaints.
When the report was released Rio CEO Jakob Stausholm said he felt “shame and regret” on reading its findings, and promised to implement all 26 recommendations.
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