MELBOURNE (Reuters) -BHP has been ordered by Australia's Federal Court to compensate 85 coal mine workers employed by its labour hire arm in Queensland for unlawfully requiring them to work Christmas and Boxing Day holidays without providing a reasonable right of refusal, the Mining and Energy Union said on Tuesday.

KEY DETAILS

* The workers have been compensated between A$800 ($520) and A$2,400 each, for being required to work the public holidays in 2019 at BHP's Daunia mine. It sold the mine to Whitehaven last year.

* BHP was penalised a further A$15,000 payable to the Mining and Energy Union (MEU).

KEY QUOTE

* "While these amounts are small change to BHP, the bigger principle here is that Australian workers can raise reasonable grounds to refuse to work on public holidays," MEU Queensland President Mitch Hughes said.

KEY CONTEXT

* BHP said last month it would be forced to take 'difficult decisions' for its remaining metallurgical coal business in Australia if there were no regulatory changes to support it.

* BHP has also said it would suspend operations and cut 750 jobs at a Queensland coking coal mine it shares with a unit of Mitsubishi, blaming low prices and high state government royalties that have dented its returns.

* Whitehaven said last year it would cut 192 jobs at the Daunia and Blackwater coking coal mines it took over from BHP, adding to a slew of roles lost in the coal sector in the past two years.

($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)