Kentucky miners protesting unpaid wages during the bankruptcy case of coal company Blackjewel LLC scored a win in court yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The company will hold some of the proceeds from the sale of coal mined in Harlan County, Kentucky, until workers there are paid, an attorney representing Blackjewel said in a hearing in Charleston, West Virginia. The move comes after Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella asked the court to halt the movement of coal from the mine until workers get June wages. Blackjewel violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying miners for work done in June, making the approximately 100 train cars loaded with coal and sitting in Harlan County “hot goods,” attorneys for the labor department wrote in a motion filed yesterday. “The portion of the payment that is, in the government’s view, attributable to the coal that is subject to the FLSA, we will not spend,” said Stephen Lerner, partner at Squire Patton Boggs US LLP representing Blackjewel. “We will commit not to spend it.” Judge Frank W. Volk said during the hearing — which some miners attended — that legal questions remain around the transport and sale of the coal. Volk may hear arguments on the issue as early as Tuesday and said the coal won’t move until the Labor Department motion is resolved. Judge Frank W. Volk said during the hearing — which some miners attended — that legal questions remain around the transport and sale of the coal. Judge Volk may hear arguments on the issue as early as today and said that the coal won’t move until the Labor Department motion is resolved.
