$4.25 million settlement reached in coal-mine hiring case

The owner of a group of Illinois coal mines has agreed to pay $4.25 million to women who claimed they were denied coal-production jobs, including underground work, based on their gender, federal and state regulators announced Tuesday..

A settlement approved by a federal judge in Benton also requires companies owned by St. Louis-based Foresight Energy to hire at least 34 women in coal production jobs at the Illinois operations.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Marion-based Mach Mining LLC in 2011, accusing the company of systematically denying jobs to women based on their gender. A second lawsuit filed in December 2016 added other Foresight operations in Illinois, including Hillsboro LLC in Montgomery County. The Deer Run Mine operated by Hillsboro LLC has been closed since early 2016 as the result of a persistent underground fire.

EEOC Chicago director Julie Bowman said in a statement that Foresight Energy cooperated in settlement of the lawsuits.

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/news/20170207/425-million-settlement-reached-in-coal-mine-hiring-case