WHITESBURG, Ky. _ Blackjewel LLC., the coal company that declared bankruptcy earlier this year and left hundreds of Kentucky miners unpaid for weeks of work, sparking a two month-long protest in Harlan County, has agreed to pay roughly $5.1 million to cover back wages of its Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia miners.
According to a settlement approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky this week, Blackjewel will send $1.99 million in checks to just over 400 Kentucky miners.
The company will send $2.72 million to about 600 Virginia miners, and $369,000 to about 80 miners in West Virginia, according to settlements approved in federal courts of those states.
Blackjewel said in a notice posted Oct. 21 that the sale of its Wyoming mines would allow the company to pay back wages to employees in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
The company said Monday it expected to mail checks "in the next day or two" to the last known addresses of its former employees.
The agreements could bring an end to a months-long battle that left hundreds of Kentucky families struggling to pay bills, and forced many former Blackjewel employees to find work outside the mines.
Blackjewel, which employed roughly 1,100 miners in Central Appalachia, filed bankruptcy in early July. After it declared bankruptcy, the paychecks that it handed out June 28 bounced, leaving many miners with bank accounts overdrawn by more than $1,000.
Bobby Stevens, a former Blackjewel miner who lives in Leslie County, said Thursday that the shutdown caused hardships for a lot of families.
Stevens was on vacation at Lake Cumberland when he learned his last check from Blackjewel had bounced, leaving him with bills he couldn't fully pay on time.
"There's still people calling my house that I owe money to," said Stevens, 29.
The company owes him more than $5,000, he said.
"I hope we get it as quick as we can," he said.
Jessica Maggard, whose husband worked for Blackjewel, said her bank account with overdrawn by about $2,500 when Blackjewel's June 28 check bounced.
"A lot of people around here is not gonna have $2,500 to cover it," she said.
Maggard said she and other miners and their families are hopeful about the upcoming check, but do not expect to be compensated for contributions to life insurance policies or vacation days.
In Harlan County, miners and their wives blocked a train hauling coal from a Blackjewel mine in protest of the bounced paychecks. The protest lasted for nearly two months, garnered national attention, and hearkened back to the county's union disputes of the 20th century.
"My heart is overjoyed for these hardworking folks who took a stand in a professional way to say workers shouldn't be treated this way," Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley said of the deal to pay the miners.
Ned Pillersdorf, a Prestonsburg attorney who has helped represent miners during the company's bankruptcy, said that if checks arrive as promised, it would be a "pleasant game-changer" for the impacted families. But he also called the news "long overdue."
"If they don't block the tracks, none of this happens," Pillersdorf said. "Then it's just typical wage earners getting burned in bankruptcy court."
Josh Holbrook, a former Blackjewel miner from Letcher County, got a call Thursday afternoon from the power company, asking about his overdue bills.
"They say we might get a check soon," Holbrook said to the power company. "Hopefully we do and we can get all caught up."
Holbrook, a foreman at the Clover Lick #3 mine in Harlan County, said his last Blackjewel check worth $3,764 bounced in early July. He was never paid for an additional week and one day of work, likely worth more than $2,000.
His account is still overdrawn by more than $4,000, but he believes the upcoming check will make a big difference in paying off his overdue bills.
"It's been rough, it's been hard, but the Lord has provided for me and my family," he said.
Pillersdorf said the U.S. Department of Labor, which filed a motion to legally halt the coal train that was blocked by the Harlan County miners, used the leverage of that motion to force the company to pay its former employees' back wages.
During a meeting with miners in Whitesburg on Thursday, Pillersdorf said he believes the company owes between $2-$2.5 million in back wages in Kentucky.
An attorney representing Blackjewel did not respond to the Herald-Leader's request for comment.
The department argued the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 because it attempted to move coal that had been produced by workers who hadn't been paid.
The settlements filed in district courts this week list the names of each miner that will receive a paycheck. Once the miners are paid, the company will be allowed to move the coal that was blocked by the Department of Labor, according to the settlements.
"What happened to the Blackjewel miners should never happen again," said Steve Earle, Vice President of the United Mine Workers of America District 12. "Our miners face unprecedented challenges and deserve to be paid for their hard work and have opportunities to earn a good living for their families. I'm proud they stood together and won this battle for themselves and their families."
Blackjewel's bankruptcy also raised questions about the Kentucky Department of Labor's enforcement of a performance bond that is required from new construction and mining companies to cover wages.
The bond requires mining and construction companies that have been doing business in the state for less than five years to post a bond to cover wages if the companies go under and are unable to pay.
The Labor Cabinet, in the weeks after Blackjewel's bankruptcy, issued notices to dozens of companies that may be in violation of the law, and issued a $366,500 fine to Blackjewel and its former CEO Jeff Hoops for failing to pay the bond. On Thursday, a release from Gov. Matt Bevin said the department will continue to pursue the fine.
Several state representatives proposed legislation to shore up the Labor Cabinet's enforcement.
Following the Blackjewel case, the Herald-Leader reported that not a single coal company that began operating in Kentucky within the past five years had posted the bond.
