Fortescue suspends senior executive under sexual harassment probe

MELBOURNE, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Fortescue, ‌Australia's third-largest miner, ​said ​on Tuesday it had suspended a senior executive who is under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment and bullying.

Fortescue was taking ‌the allegations "extremely seriously" and hired law firm MinterEllison to investigate, it ⁠said in a statement to Reuters last week.

The allegations against the unnamed senior executive were ‌first reported by the ‌Australian Financial Review earlier this month.

"As the investigation has progressed, Fortescue has continued to take external legal and governance advice," the miner said on ​Tuesday.

"It has been decided that the employee who is the subject of the allegations will not undertake any work for Fortescue while the ⁠investigation continues."

The statement came after Fortescue's energy chief, Gus Pichot, told an earnings call last week ​that legal advice indicated the person did not need to be suspended. "We have taken extensive external legal and governance advice ​so we are quite confident we are ‌following the proper process," he said.

Sexual harassment has been a persistent issue at mine sites in Western Australia and ⁠sparked a state inquiry in 2021.

Fortescue was served with a class action in July alleging workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

The suit was filed by ⁠law firm JGA Saddler, which also launched similar class-action lawsuits against Rio Tinto and ​BHP in late 2024. Those cases are still winding their way through the courts.

Fortescue last week reported a 20% drop in "psychosocial" breaches, which include sexual harassment, ethics issues ‌and other incidents, with 98 incidents reported in the latest financial year.

The company, which has 16,154 employees, said it ‌had dismissed 11 people for breaches of its code of conduct relating to ⁠discrimination and sexual harassment during ‌the year. It found ​13 cases of inappropriate sexual contact, 10 of sexual harassment and one of sexual assault.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by ‌Kate Mayberry)

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