Ky. coal company sues worker who had safety worry

Using a federal law designed to protect workers, welder Reuben Shemwell lodged a complaint last year against Armstrong Coal after he was fired in 2011 from his job at the company's Parkway Mine.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Agency, an arm of the Department of Labor, investigated but ultimately decided not to pursue Shemwell's complaint. The agency got involved again this month when Armstrong Coal sued Shemwell.

MSHA said Armstrong's suit, filed in August, violated the section of the law designed to protect miners who file discrimination complaints.

"I've been doing these cases for over 30 years ... and I have never heard or experienced a coal company suing a miner because MSHA turned down their case on the merits," said Shemwell's attorney, Tony Oppegard.

Oppegard said Armstrong Coal's lawsuit should be viewed as a retaliatory action and could intimidate other miners from bringing discrimination complaints.

Mason L. Miller, a Lexington attorney representing Armstrong Coal, said Oppegard is attempting to use news media to influence the outcome of a case. Miller declined to comment on the cases since the litigation is pending.

"If Mr. Oppegard was truly concerned that publicity concerning the lawsuit would intimidate miners from bringing complaints, then he wouldn't be spending so much time publicizing it," Miller said in a statement. Miller described Shemwell's complaint filings as "wrongful actions" that reflect negatively on Armstrong Coal's 900 other employees.

Oppegard said in response Wednesday that the company is trying to bully his client "and they don't want public light shined on their actions."

Armstrong Coal has maintained that Shemwell was fired for using his cellphone too much on the worksite, and not for complaining about work conditions. Shemwell worked for a division of Armstrong Coal called Armstrong Fabricators.

The company runs several surface and underground mines in coal-rich regions of western Kentucky.

"Shemwell filed his discrimination claim for the purpose of causing (Armstrong Coal) to incur unnecessary and substantial costs in defending against his false discrimination claim," according to the lawsuit filed in Muhlenberg County Circuit Court.