There are 6000 casual employees in the industry who work a compressed fortnightly roster. This means they work longer hours in the first week and shorter hours in the second.

But current weekly counting of their hours reported by employers is denying them equality in their entitlements.

"There's no excuse for dudding workers out of their entitlements," Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke said.

"Casuals in the black coal mining industry deserve fair treatment. They deserve the long-service leave entitlements they earned."

The Newcastle Herald reported in February that a recent review of the coal industry long-service scheme recommended a comprehensive overhaul of its operations and called for independent directors on the industry-run board that administers it.

Consultants KPMG found that while the existing scheme worked for most permanent coal miners, there were also a range of problems, including the treatment of casual coal miners. Its 20 recommendations covered the treatment and coverage of employees, compliance and enforcement, governance and administrative processes.

Hunter MP Dan Repacholi said the new bill would iron out unfair laws which are disadvantaging casual workers in the coal mining sector.

"Workers deserve to be paid what they are entitled to, and the averaging of hours across a roster cycle will mean 6,000 workers are getting a fair long service leave balance so that when they take the leave they aren't taking a pay cut," he said.