Rio Tinto Sexual Discrimination & Harassment Class Action Investigation  

Sexual harassment: Under Australian law, sexual harassment is behaviour that would make a reasonable person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. An alleged harasser’s intention behind their behaviour is irrelevant. Sexual harassment can be an unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual acts or conduct of a sexual nature. It may be a one-off incident, and does not have to be obvious, repeated or continuous behaviour. 

Sexual discrimination: Is the act of discriminating against a person because of their sex, intersex status, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status, family responsibilities, because they are pregnant or might become pregnant, or because they are breastfeeding. Examples of sexual discrimination could include: 

• not hiring a woman because the hiring manager thinks they won’t fit into a male dominated workplace;  

• not paying a woman the same salary as a man for doing the exact same work, or not providing a woman with the same opportunities for training, mentoring or promotion as a man; or 

• allocating work tasks based on a person’s sex or gender identity.  

Sexual discrimination can be both direct and indirect. It can also happen when employers put in place conditions, requirements or practices which appear to treat everyone equally, but end up disadvantaging some people based on their sex, marital or relationship status.  

If you are experiencing sexual harassment and the situation has become abusive or violent, please call 000 or the Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence National Help Line: 1800 Respect (1800 737 732). If you are a survivor of childhood abuse or trauma, the Blue Knot Foundation provides support on 1300 657 380. 

No. You have no obligation to tell Rio Tinto or its related subsidiaries that you have registered for this investigation. We wish to assure you that any information shared with Shine Lawyers will remain strictly private and confidential. To understand more, call us on 1800 961 050 for a confidential discussion. 

Yes. Even though you are not an Australian citizen, if you were employed by Rio Tinto or any of its subsidiaries and experienced sexual discrimination or harassment on an Australian site owned by Rio Tinto or any of its subsidiaries we encourage you to register for the class action investigation. 

When Governments, large companies or institutions do the wrong thing and people are harmed or suffer loss as a result, an individual can have little to no means of bringing a legal claim.

Class actions are an important mechanism within Australia’s legal system that allow large groups of people to come together to pursue a claim collectively.

For a class action to take place, there are three criteria that need to be met:

1. there must be 7 or more people that have claims against the same defendant; and

2. the claims relate to the same or similar circumstances; and

3. the claim must relate to at least one common issue of law or fact.

For more information about how class actions resolve, click here.

The benefits of class actions include: 

• There are no out-of-pocket expenses;

• They minimise the administrative and emotional burden involved in a regular legal case; and 

• They enable greater access to justice.

Time limits typically apply in class actions. If you think that you might be eligible to participate in this class action, we recommend that you register as soon as possible.  

It can take up to several years for a class action to resolve. The time taken from case commencement through to resolution and settlement administration depends on the particular case, and the nature of the claim.

For more information about class actions and how they work, click here.

Shine Lawyers is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background or financial situation, has access to justice. We run our class actions in a way that means you are not exposed to any costs or financial risk, so joining a class action will cost you nothing.

When a class action is successful, the legal fees and costs to run the class action are deducted from the settlement amount that is approved by the Court. If the class action is unsuccessful, we will ensure there are no out-of-pocket costs to you.