Recent legal decisions reaffirm miners’ rights to raise health, safety concerns
Two recent decisions by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission have affirmed the legal rights of miners to be protected against discrimination in the workplace, according to MSHA head Joseph Main.
In the first case, an administrative law judge with the review commission ordered Cumberland River Coal Co. to reinstate a coal miner to his former job and pay a civil penalty of $30,000 -- $10,000 more than the amount originally proposed by the Secretary of Labor.