JAKARTA — More than 735 former workers of PT Nusa Halmahera Mineral (NHM) at the Gosowong gold mine in North Halmahera, North Maluku, remain without severance pay years after mass layoffs, despite a final, binding ruling by Indonesia's Supreme Court ordering their compensation to be paid.
The workers, many of whom gave over two decades of their careers to operations in Halmahera, are now calling on the Indonesian government to enforce the law after Newmont Corporation issued a public statement that conspicuously failed to address the existence of the Supreme Court ruling, let alone its legal obligation to comply with it.
The dispute has already run its full course through Indonesia's legal system. The Industrial Relations Court at the Ternate District Court ruled in favor of the workers in Decision No. 5/Pdt.Sus-PHI/2023/PN Tte, a ruling later upheld at the highest level through Supreme Court cassation ruling No. 734 K/Pdt.Sus-PHI/2024.
Baca Juga: Putusan MA Tak Dieksekusi, Newcrest Disorot Terkait Dugaan Penundaan Pesangon Rp600 Miliar ke 735 Pekerja NHM The ruling is final and legally binding under Indonesian law
Yet Newmont's response, issued by Director of Communications Jessica Geurkink, made no mention of either ruling.
Instead, the company stated that "all labor-related obligations arising from the divestment process are the responsibility of the current owners and operators of the mine," and that the matter predated Newmont's acquisition of Newcrest Mining.
Legal observers say this framing is legally insufficient and does not engage with the substance of what Indonesian courts have already decided.
Legal and human rights practitioner Husendro was direct in his assessment.
"Ignoring a Supreme Court ruling cannot be tolerated because it undermines the authority of the legal system," he said.
"Severance pay is a fundamental workers' right protected by law. It cannot be set aside for business reasons, and it certainly cannot be set aside by choosing not to acknowledge a court's existence."
Husendro also highlighted the principle of successor liability, the legal doctrine that obligations remain attached to a business regardless of changes in corporate ownership, as directly applicable here.
Newmont's acquisition of Newcrest in 2023 brought with it the inherited legal landscape of Newcrest's prior operations, including unresolved worker claims.