A Pilbara mining giant has today swallowed its pride and forked out a record compensation fee for a worker that suffers from Steel Cap Toe Syndrome.
Mineral Resources was fined $1.5 million after Logistics Officer Angelica D’Ambruzio claimed she suffered permanent sore feet almost to the point of being paraplegic.
The Supreme Court of Western Australia heard D’Ambruzio (ze/zir) had been on the job for eight days when she became overwhelmed with excruciating pain.
“My Learned Friend, you see, my client was forced to be on her feet for unreasonable hours,” said senior counsel Dennis Denuto.
“In what world are we living in when a worker is expected to work for 12 hours a day… not a modern one I’ll tell you that.
“My client had every ticket under the sun, except for a white card, and never in the manuals did it say ze would be required to wear these heavy, grotesque boots.”
Steel Cap Toe Syndrome (SCTS) was up until now unheard-of in the medical sphere, with the recent case leaving experts perplexed.
“I’m not touching this with a ten-foot pole,” said Dr Kris Krunupti of WA Health.
“Sounds like a bloody HR nightmare.”
Mineral Resources pleaded guilty to contravening sections 9(1), 9A(2) and 15C of the Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 (MSI Act). The company failed to provide and maintain a working environment that, as far as practicable, did not expose its employees to hazards.
Standing smugly outside court, with her purple-tipped mohawk glistening in the sun, D’Ambruzio told reporters this was only the beginning of the lawsuits she was planning to bring against the miner.
“Never judge a book by its cover,” she said.
