Massey Energy has settled an age discrimination law suit brought by more than 200 miners by agreeing to pay $8.75 million.
The miners, all 40 years of age or older, were previously employed at the Mammoth mine in West Virginia, but after Massey acquired it from the previous owners, they were refused employment.
Eighty-two of the workers were union members and will receive additional compensation for discrimination based on union-status. Those will receive $38,000 and the remaining miners will receive $19,000 in compensation.
Meanwhile the trial lawyers will receive $3 million, or 34 percent of the total settlement.
Here is what both sides had to say, as quoted in the Charleston Gazette Coal Tattoo blog:
“This settlement highlights yet again the treacherous and backhanded manner Massey treated the miners who had worked at the Cannelton mine for decades,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “While it was discriminating against these experienced miners because of their age or union status, the company was at the same time publicly crying about the lack of experienced miners in the coalfields.
“But it wasn’t that Massey couldn’t find experienced miners,” Roberts said. “They were there all along and wanted to work. It was that the company would rather break the law than allow its employees to have a strong voice at work and the tremendous benefits of a union contract.
And Massey’s response:
“Our insurer decided it was best to settle this case outside the West Virginia court system, which has been friendly to class action lawsuits,” said Don Blankenship, chairman and CEO of Massey Energy Company. “We believe the suit was without merit, but understand our insurer’s reluctance to proceed to trial in West Virginia.”
West Virginia’s legal climate has consistently been rated as one of the worst in the nation.
The suit alleged hiring discrimination by a Massey subsidiary. Notably, the Company offered jobs to a large number of the plaintiffs alleging discrimination, but only nine job offers were accepted.
