By Sarah Tincher

May 20, 2016 - A West Virginia coal mining company is facing a class action lawsuit after allegedly laying off more than 100 employees without any prior notice.

Jonathan Conn, Austin Tilley and Nelson Saddler, representing themselves and their former coworkers, filed a class action lawsuit against Seneca Coal Resources LLC in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia May 11.

The lawsuit alleges Seneca laid off about 120 employees from its Wyoming County facility April 5 without giving the workers a 60-day notice, as required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Additionally, the plaintiffs allege Seneca failed to pay them their respective wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for 60 days following their termination, and failed to make 401(k) contributions and provide them with health insurance coverage and other employee benefits.

Neither Tom Clarke, CEO of Seneca Coal Resources affiliate Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, nor attorneys representing the plaintiffs were immediately available for comment May 19.

Although the lawsuit doesn’t specifically name the facility, Seneca’s only coal mining operation in Pineville is the Pinnacle Mine, which Seneca bought from Cliffs Natural Resources last December.

The company has come under fire several times since acquiring the Pinnacle Mine: first for turning about 200 workers away when they showed up for work one day in January; and then again for idling in April following a contract dispute with the UMWA. 

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger has been assigned to the class action case.