A group of affiliated coal mining companies will pay $4.25 million to settle two lawsuits that allege women were denied jobs at the firms because of their gender, federal officials said.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) filed the sex discrimination lawsuits against Marion, Ill.-based Mach Mining LLC and affiliates, alleging that the companies’ hiring practices effectively excluded women from working in the underground mines and in other coal production positions.
The cases were resolved by a single consent decree entered by Senior District Judge J. Phil Gilbert. The decree calls for the mining companies to jointly pay a total of $4.25 million to a group of women applicants who were denied jobs because of sex discrimination. Additionally, the companies have agreed to hiring goals that are expected to result in at least 34 women being hired into coal production jobs in their mines that operate in Illinois.
EEOC first filed suit against Mach Mining on Sept. 27, 2011, (case number 11-cv-00879-JPG) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in Benton, Ill., after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
On Dec. 5, 2016, EEOC filed a second lawsuit naming certain affiliates of Mach which, along with Mach, are part of St. Louis-based Foresight Energy. The entities named in the second suit were Foresight Energy Services LLC, Foresight Energy LLC, Foresight Energy LP, Foresight Energy Labor LLC, Hillsboro Energy LLC, Macoupin Energy LLC, MaRyan Mining LLC, M-Class Mining LLC, Patton Mining LLC, Sugar Camp Energy LLC, Viking Mine LLC, and Williamson Energy LLC.
The two cases were consolidated for purposes of resolution.
In addition to providing for monetary relief to a class of female applicants and deterred applicants, and female hiring goals at Foresight’s Illinois mines, the decree calls for training of Foresight personnel, regular reporting to EEOC on compliance with the decree’s terms for four years, and posting at the mines notices informing employees of the decree’s terms.
Source: EEOC
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