BECKLEY – A Wyoming County miner says his former employer violated federal law by closing a mine and laying him and his co-workers off without giving 60 days' notice.
David Jordan filed a class-action lawsuit May 17 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Beckley Division, against Mechel Bluestone Inc. and Dynamic Energy Inc., alleging violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
According to the complaint, Jordan worked in the defendant’s Coal Mountain Surface Mine No. 1 until he was laid off on Dec. 30, 2013. The suit claims Jordan and some 128 other full-time workers were told of the layoff on Dec. 28, and received no advance written notice of the downsizing, as mandated by the WARN Act. In addition, the claim states that terminated employees did not receive the holiday pay they were owed, and their health care benefits ended less than 60 days after the verbal notice was delivered.
Jordan and other class members seeks a jury trial and statutory damages, plus interest and litigation costs. They are represented by attorneys Samuel B. Petsonk and Bren J. Pomponio of Mountain State Justice Inc. in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Beckley Division Case number 5:16-cv-04413