BHP has identified issues with certain allowances and entitlements affecting a number of its current and former employees in Australia.
A preliminary review suggests that certain rostered employees across our Australian operations have had leave incorrectly deducted on public holidays since 2010. There are approximately 28,500 affected current and former employees with an average of 6 leave days in total that have been incorrectly deducted from affected employees over this 13 year period.
Initial investigations also suggest that OZ Minerals has been affected by a similar leave deduction issue before being acquired by BHP in May 2023.
In addition, BHP has identified that approximately 400 current and former employees at Port Hedland are entitled to additional allowances due to an error with the employment entity in their contract.
Based on currently available information, it is estimated that the cost of remediating the leave issue and the contracting issue will be up to US$280 million pre tax, incorporating on costs including associated superannuation and interest payments (BHP share). BHP is continuing to investigate and an update will be provided in our full year results in August.
Geraldine Slattery, President Australia said: "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."
Protiviti, a global assurance firm, has been engaged to conduct a thorough review of our payroll systems.
BHP will contact affected current and former employees regarding remediation as soon as possible and a dedicated hotline and website will be established to provide assistance from Friday.
BHP has self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
