When women start working at Fortescue, the “first thing” they are allegedly told by other women is “don’t leave your washing out because your underwear will be stolen”.Others report “having to go to the toilet in public out in the bush and having men stalk them down like an animal”, being “followed back to their rooms” and subjected to constant crass sexual remarks.“He said to me, ‘Why don’t you f**k the crew, you will make yourself feel better,’” one anonymous Fortescue employee is quoted as saying.The Aussie mining giant is facing a wave of allegations of decades of systemic sexual harassment, gender discrimination and hostile workplace environments, in a class action filed on Thursday morning by law firm JGA Saddler.The class action against Twiggy Forrest’s $59 billion mining giant, filed in federal court in Victoria, comes after similar cases filed in 2024 against Rio Tinto and BHP, alleging widespread sexual harassment, sexual violence and sex discrimination.“In the course of speaking to thousands of women in those two cases, Fortescue kept coming up, time and time again,” JGA Saddler special counsel Paris Hamrey told news.com.au.“The conduct at Fortescue does seem to be as bad if not worse.”JGA Saddler says it has received reports of sexual assault, violence and retaliation, especially when female staff reject sexual advances. “It’s really the whole range, from serious sexual assault and being inappropriately touched in the workplace, all the way through to the day-to-day, egregious [behaviour],” Ms Hamrey said.Women who have lodged complaints are then dismissed, demoted, silenced or black-listed from the industry, the law firm claims.“Because of the culture at Fortescue, women are too scared to report and too scared to speak up,” Ms Hamrey said.“Multiple women tell us the first thing they tell other women when they start out is, ‘Don’t leave your washing unattended because your underwear will be stolen.’“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. One lady told me she walked into the dining hall and the men started howling at her.”The class action, backed by UK litigation funder Aristata, is open to women who were subject to sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of sex or a hostile workplace environment while working at one or more of Fortescue’s Australian mining hubs or accommodation camps, between February 1, 2006 and December 5 2025.Ms Hamrey said it was too early to put a dollar figure on size of the claim.“We do expect there to be thousands of women affected,” she said.Michael Hartridge, general counsel and head of portfolio management at Aristata, said in a statement, “Our mission is to create a safer, more equitable world by financing legal cases that empower historically marginalised voices and bring justice through compensation. We are committed to supporting women in mining who are reporting high levels of sexual violence, harassment and discrimination in their workplace.” JGA Saddler has requested the federal court to redact all names in the filings amid concerns for personal safety of the two lead applicants. The law firm has shared a series of shocking quotes from anonymous group members.“When I told FMG I was pregnant, within a week I was presented with a deed of release, and they told me I had ‘resigned’,” one read.“He said, ‘Girls don’t belong in mining’ … and, ‘You sluts report us and then we get the sack,’” another said.“When I would ask them to blow into the breathalyser, I would receive comments such as, ‘I’ll blow wherever you want me to,’” a third said.One worker alleged she had a stillborn baby and “when I returned to site I had just lost my son and was told to ‘get over it’”.Another wrote, “When we were working remotely, there were no bathroom facilities. I would take have to myself off and find a place to go in the bush. On several occasions, male colleagues would try and find me, either on foot or in a ute.”One said she “came home one night to find a random man in my room”, while another claimed a “man pulled me into a dark alley and tried to stick his tongue down my throat”.“If I dropped something on the ground during my shift they would say, ‘Baby girl while you’re down there,’” another comment read.Another worker wrote, “I found out there was graffiti in the male toilets about me saying, ‘[x name] has a d**k and she is going to f**k you over’ and ‘I want to have sex with [x name]’.”Fortescue mining sites in Western Australia include Port Hedland, Christmas Creek, Cloudbreak, Eliwana, Solomon and Iron Bridge.A Fortescue spokeswoman told news.com.au, “As class action proceedings have not commenced, it would be inappropriate to comment on any potential claims or allegations.“Fortescue is committed to providing a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace for all employees and contractors.“Sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination and other behaviour that makes people feel unsafe, have no place at Fortescue.”Fortescue says it is investing $300 million in village improvements, with a focus on safety, wellbeing and better after-hours options for people living and working on site.This includes upgrades to common areas and a significant expansion of recreation and wellbeing facilities outside the traditional tavern setting, including increased gym capacity, wellness centres, music rooms and 24-hour walking tracks.Fortescue says it has also strengthened safety and security settings across its accommodation villages, including duress app capability, deadlocks, swipe-card access systems, CCTV, lighting improvements and high-speed Wi-Fi.The company is pushing for increased gender diversity of a minimum 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent of any gender.Women currently make up one quarter of Fortescue’s workforce, 28.8 per cent of leadership positions and 39 per cent of senior leadership positions.That’s up from 21 per cent of the workforce and 25 per cent of senior leadership positions in 2021.frank.chung@news.com.au