BHP said a preliminary review identified certain rostered employees across its Australian operations had leave incorrectly deducted on public holidays since 2010.

The miner said approximately 28,500 current and former employees were affected. An average of six leave days in total were incorrectly deducted from the affected employees over a 13-year period. 

Additionally, BHP said 400 current and former employees at Port Hedland are entitled to additional allowances due to an error with the employment entity in their contract. 

“We are sorry to all current and former employees impacted by these errors. This is not good enough and falls short of the standards we expect at BHP. We are working to rectify and remediate these issues, with interest, as quickly as possible,” said BHP President ­– Australia Geraldine Slattery.

It is estimated that the cost of remediating the leave and contracting issues will be up to US$280 million pre-tax. 

Global assurance firm Protiviti has been engaged to conduct a thorough review of BHP’s payroll systems. The miner has also self-reported to Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman.

Source: BHP