Alliance Must Face Coal Miners' Overtime, Off-Clock Work Suit

Alliance Resource Partners LP and five subsidiaries who face allegations of underpaying coal miners failed to convince a federal judge in Illinois to throw out the wage-and-hour dispute.

The coal producer sought to have the case tossed entirely on jurisdictional grounds or, alternatively, trimmed one portion for failure to state a claim. But Alliance is subject to general and specific personal jurisdiction, and the miners sufficiently alleged a violation of a state wage payment law, the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois said.

Alliance allegedly failed to pay Rickey Cates and similarly situated workers at mines ...