24-07-2025
Aussie woman is fired from her FIFO job after major mistake that cost bosses more than $200k: Wait till you find out what happened
A hairdresser-turned FIFO worker has been awarded $30,000 in compensation after she was unfairly sacked from a mine site over a costly gold-dumping debacle.
Jamie-Lee Corless-Crane was employed as a pit technician at Aurenne's open cut Mt Ida mine site near Menzies, Western Australia, in January.
The former hairdresser was involved in a dig site mix-up that cost her employer about $200,000, after 54 ounces of gold were accidentally dumped.
The Fair Work Commission ruled in favour of the former hairdresser and DJ, ordering Aurenne Management Services to compensate her for four months' wages.
A key role of a pit technician is to guide the excavator operators to ensure the correct location is mined and that the mined product is taken to the correct stockpile.
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 wasted, with the gold taken to a dump instead of a processing plant.
Although the employer accepted more experienced colleagues gave her incorrect paperwork, it contended she failed to exercise 'due diligence' to ensure an excavator operator worked in the correct area.
But FWC deputy president Melanie Binet found the inexperienced pit technician was treated harshly and unfairly dismissed. She ordered the company to pay her four months' wages.
'Ms Corless-Crane was not responsible for the loss of 54 ounces of gold,' she said.
'Ore had already been lost before she was called to the mining location.
'The loss of ore occurred due to an error in the markup by people far more qualified than Ms Corless-Crane.
'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.'
The employee who was ultimately responsible for the loss of the ore was given a written warning only.
Ms Binet said the company did not appear to have extended the same level of empathy to Ms Corless-Crane.
'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,' she said.
'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.
'The surveyor, whose error on the evidence tendered, was far more fundamental and was the root cause of the ore loss.'
At the time of her dismissal, Ms Corless-Crane's annual salary was $100,000.
Since her dismissal, the former hairdresser said she has applied for similar positions but has not been successful.
Ms Corless-Crane told the FWC that while she was a trained hairdresser and a DJ she hadn't explored employment in these fields again because she would not earn as much and would lose her home.
