A federal appellate court denied a coal company's petition for review in an anti-discrimination case that determined that the coal producer suspended a worker for engaging in activities protected under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied nearly all the accounts in Murray Energy Corp.-owned Harrison County Coal Co.'s petition for review of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Commission's ruling on the case. But it granted the petition on the amount of awarded back pay owed to the worker, remanding for findings on the issue, according to an Oct. 4 court filing.
The case focused on whether Harrison County Coal violated the Mine Act by disciplining coal miner George Scoles after several incidents between him and mine supervisor George McCauley. The company suspended Scoles with the intent to discharge him in 2015.
Scoles' protected actions included filing three discrimination complaints over several years, complaining about health and safety to supervisors, complaining to McCauley that he felt harassed, and "stating that he was being left in the mine without a gas detector in violation of state and federal safety laws," according to the filing.
An administrative law judge found that Scoles' discharge was suspended in retaliation for protected, safety-related activities and awarded the miner back pay of more than $16,000 plus interest, assessed a $40,000 civil penalty to the coal producer and ordered the company to train management on miners' rights.
"Because substantial evidence supports the factual findings underlying the administrative law judge's determinations, we deny Harrison's petition for review as to all findings except the amount of back pay awarded," the court stated. "Based on the record before us, we find there is not substantial evidence to support the administrative law judge's award of $16,324.80 in back pay to Scoles and remand for a finding as to the appropriate amount of back pay to be awarded."
