Judge orders restoration of jobs in health program for West Virginia
coal miners
[May 14, 2025]
By JOHN RABY
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday ordered the restoration of a
health monitoring program for coal miners in West Virginia and rescinded
layoffs the federal government implemented in a unit of a small U.S.
health agency.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger issued a preliminary injunction in a
lawsuit filed against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by a coal miner who was
diagnosed with a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung
disease.
Nearly 200 workers at a National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health facility in Morgantown were told last month that their jobs were
being terminated as part of restructuring within Health and Human
Services. Berger ordered that jobs be restored within NIOSH's
respiratory health division in Morgantown, although her ruling didn't
specify a number. The division is responsible for screening and
reviewing medical exams to determine whether there is evidence that
miners have developed black lung.
Federal law mandates that regular health screenings be made available to
coal miners. Those diagnosed with black lung also are given the option
to transfer to other positions in a mine to protect them from continued
dust exposure without a pay reduction.
Berger said the defendants “lack the authority to unilaterally cancel”
the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program within NIOSH. She ordered
both the surveillance and job transfer programs to be restored, saying
that “there be no pause, stoppage or gap in the protections and
services" mandated by the federal Mine Safety and Health Act.
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 Poisonous silica dust has
contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers
from black lung disease. Plaintiff Harry Wiley, a West Virginia mine
electrician who has worked in coal mines for 38 years, was diagnosed
with early-stage black lung last November.
Canceling the health surveillance program would
"cost lives,” Berger wrote. “Remaining in a dusty job may reduce the
years in which Mr. Wiley can walk and breathe unassisted, in
addition to hastening his death. It is difficult to imagine a
clearer case of irreparable harm.”
The judge gave Kennedy 20 days to show the federal government is
complying with her order.
An email seeking comment from Health and Human Services wasn't
immediately returned Tuesday night.
Wiley's attorney, Sam Brown Petsonk, said the preliminary injunction
“had to happen, and the public, I think, understands the absolute
necessity of this program. It cannot be hindered. It cannot be
whittled away. It’s essential because it saves the lives of some of
he hardest-working people in this entire world.”
NIOSH was created under a 1970 law signed by President Richard
Nixon. It started operations the following year and grew to have
offices and labs in eight cities, including Cincinnati, Pittsburgh,
Morgantown, and Spokane, Washington.
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