SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - Southern Illinois miner, Carl Leeper, has filed a class action lawsuit against Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. and Hamilton County Coal, LLC.
The suit is brought on due to the mines' failure to provide the required 60-day advanced notice of termination to the nearly 200 employees as part of a mass termination that occurred at Hamilton County Coal Mine #1 on February 5, 2016 violating the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act).
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The Plaintiff, Carl Leeper, a full-time employee at the Hamilton County Coal Mine #1 for three years, and his co-workers, were provided less than 24-hour notice that the mine was terminating their employment and that all benefits would cease as of the date of termination. This violation left hundreds of Southern Illinois families without health insurance, income and gave no ability for them to job search. Carl's suit not only asks for action taken for himself, but also on behalf of his approximate 200 co-workers. "A lot of people can't stand up to Alliance Coal as it's no secret they would blackball us out of any future mining jobs. I know a lot of these workers, their spouses, their kids, their churches... I know why they showed up every day risking their lives in this dangerous job. They did it to provide. When I saw the fear in my co-worker's eyes wondering how he was going to get his young son the medical treatment he needs and what it means if he can't, I stopped caring how big Alliance Coal is and decided I would stand up to them on behalf of Southern Illinois. The greatest thing is all of Southern Illinois is now standing up with me!" shared miner, Carl Leeper.
Leeper is represented by Goldenberg, Heller & Antognoli, P.C. and Culley, Feist, Kuppart and Taylor, L.L.C.
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