Coal miner files class action lawsuit over job loss

After receiving less than 24-hours advance notice, Carl Leeper, who had been an employee at Hamilton County Coal for three years, and 200 other employees at Hamilton County Coal Mine #1, were told on Feb. 5 that they would be laid off as part of a mass termination.

Now, Leeper and attorneys from Goldenberg, Heller & Antognoli of Edwardsville and Culley, Feist, Support and Taylor of Harrisburg have filed a class action lawsuit against Alliance Resource Partners and Hamilton County Coal.

According to a press release from the attorneys, the lawsuit was brought because of the mines' "failure to provide the required 60-day advanced notice of termination," to the 200 employees. In addition to being terminated, employees were told that their benefits would expire when they were let go.

The complaint argues that the defendants' "failure" to provide enough notice violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN. WARN is a national labor law that requires most employers with 100 or more employees to give 60 days notice of plant closings or mass layoffs.

Leeper's lawsuit is asking for Hamilton County Coal and Alliance to pay back pay, benefits, and attorneys' fees as provided for under the WARN Act, among other costs. The lawsuit alleges that the mass layoff, "Deprived hundreds of fired workers and their families some transition time," to adjust to the imminent loss of employment, the chance to apply for or obtain another job, or enter skill training or retraining, as they are allowed under the WARN Act.

While it was not possible to estimate a total cost asked for under the complaint, Tom Lech, an attorney with Goldenberg, Heller & Antognoli, said that Leeper earned $91,000 a year, with around $2,000 in monthly benefits. Lech said that Leeper's earnings and benefits were "on average" with the 200 or so other terminated employees.

The next step, according to Lech, will come with a response from Alliance and Hamilton County Coal. The legal department of Alliance was contacted, but had not returned calls by press time.