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The Offshore Alliance is made up of the Australian Workers Union and the Maritime Union.
In a letter sent by the Alliance to National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority head Derek O'Keefe yesterday seen by Energy News, it said around March 27, a number of interstate Inpex workers were given less than 48 hours to decide whether to relocate to Perth for 12 months.
This is despite FIFO employees being deemed "exempt travellers" by state authorities under the Emergency Management Act who are allowed to enter WA if they agreed to undergo two weeks' quarantine.
The hard border came into effect midnight April 5.
"The information provided to these employees by Inpex was patently false and at best misleading," the letter stated.
The Alliance said for many workers this meant separating from their families due to the impracticality of relocating at such short notice.
The letter also alleges relocated workers were provided new rosters upon arrival which in some cases meant being quarantined in isolation for up to seven weeks without pay.
"The Offshore Alliance received numerous complaints from employees regarding the lack of consultation and reliance on incorrect or false information to force employees into making rushed decisions on matters which have significant impact on their work-life balance," the letter said.
An Inpex spokesman told Energy News however all personnel required to quarantine in company- provided accommodation received payment.
"The health and wellbeing of our people remains our highest priority," the spokesman said.
"Inpex is actively managing the risk of COVID-19 and this includes a range of measures to ensure business continuity."
Earlier this month the regulator warned against the overlong rosters some operators have put in place in a bid to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, saying there has been a lack of consideration for the fatigue and mental health of workers.
The Alliance accused the company of failing to consider fatigue risk, hazards to worker's mental health and poor communication.
"Being shuffled between work groups and rosters and being place in work crews where there is no cohesion is significantly elevating their exposure to health and safety risks," it said.
It is now asking NOPSEMA to investigate.
A NOPSEMA spokesperson confirmed to Energy News it had received the letter but could not comment specifically on the complaints.
Various companies have allegedly stood down or forced workers to relocate with little consultation, according to numerous unions across the country, as they grapple with how to operate within the restrictions put in place to deal with COVID-19.
Roughly 300 Karratha gas plant workers were reportedly stood down indefinitely on Friday with less than a day's notice, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (WA), as Woodside Petroleum decided to pause life-extension work being carried out.
Woodside denied the allegations, given it first flagged delaying work on the KGP as part of its cost-cutting measures announced to the market in March.
Last week, Queensland Energy contractor Zinfra was accused by the Electrical Trades Union of forcing 20 workers to relocate from Brisbane to far-north Queensland, saying the contractor was using the pandemic as an excuse to bypass basic consultation processes and contractual obligations.
