FIFO mining compensation payout: Jamie-Lee Corless-Crane awarded $30k after sacked by Aurenne Group Mining

A fly-in, fly-out worker who was accused of being at fault for the loss of $200,000 worth of gold at a WA mine site has been awarded more than $30,000 after the Fair Work Commission found she was unfairly dismissed.

Perth Jamie-Lee Corless-Crane had worked as a pit technician for Aurenne Group Mining in Mt Ida for 15 months before the incident on January 7.

The gold was lost when three long-term geology department workers marked the wrong mining location, and so the gold from the wrongly marked location was taken to waste instead of being processed.

Aurenne claimed Ms Corless-Crane’s failure to check a dig site against a map she had been given led to 54 ounces of gold being discarded.

Ms Corless-Crane was immediately stood down and an investigation was launched.

A week later, she received an email saying she had failed to take “due diligence” in her role.

Ms Corless-Crane responded to the email and reminded her employer she was the “least experienced member” of the geology department.

“I rely on the information provided to me from my department and trust that it is accurate,” she wrote.

On January 22, she was told she had been dismissed, effective immediately.

Fair Work Commission deputy president Melanie Binet found the former DJ and hairdresser had “limited” mining experience and so she could not be blamed, making the dismissal “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.

“She was a junior, inexperienced employee working in the early hours of the morning on her first night shift of swing, is a single mother, the income earner for herself and her young child, with caring responsibilities for her elderly grandparents,”Ms Binet said in her decision.

“Ms Corless-Crane was the last and potentially least experienced employee to have failed to identify the error in mark-up,

“The opportunity to identify the error earlier was missed by the excavator operators and geology team members operating during daylight hours with far better visibility and more experience than Ms Corless-Crane.

“Even if Ms Corless-Crane had been able to identify the error in mark-up, the loss of ore had already commenced occurring before she was called to the mining location.

“While there might possibly have been an opportunity for Ms Corless-Crane to identify the error in the mining location, I am not satisfied that her failure to do so was sufficiently serious to constitute a valid reason for her termination in all the circumstances.”

Ms Binet said the company had “failed” since the person ultimately responsible for the loss of the gold was only given a written warning.

“In determining to impose a different disciplinary outcome on the surveyor, Aurenne appear to have failed to give weight to the fact that Ms Corless-Crane has significantly less qualifications and experience in the industry,” she said.

Ms Binet ordered the company to pay Ms Corless-Crane four months’ wages.