CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy Co. must offer to rehire 85 union miners who lost their jobs after the coal giant took over the Mammoth Coal complex in 2004, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Massey has 15 days to make written offers of interim employment to the miners, Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said.

The miners lost their jobs after Massey bought the coal mining operation near the Kanawha-Fayette county border in August 2004 from Horizon Natural Resources after the company went into bankruptcy.

As part of the transaction, a federal bankruptcy judge agreed to remove a clause of Horizon's contract with the United Mine Workers of America that required any buyers to maintain the union work agreement.

Last November, an administrative law judge ruled that the bankruptcy court ruling alone did not relieve Massey from an obligation to bargain collectively with workers. The judge concluded that Massey had "discriminatorily refused to hire its predecessor's employees" in order to avoid having a majority of union workers at the Mammoth operation.

In January, the National Labor Review Board asked Goodwin for an injunction forcing Massey to rehire the displaced union miners, alleging that Massey discriminated against them when it began hiring at the Mammoth complex.

Union spokesman Phil Smith said Friday evening that UMW officials were withholding comment until the union's attorneys have had a chance to review Goodwin's ruling.

A message left for a Massey attorney late Friday evening was not returned.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy Co. must offer to rehire 85 union miners who lost their jobs after the coal giant took over the Mammoth Coal complex in 2004, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Massey has 15 days to make written offers of interim employment to the miners, Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said.

The miners lost their jobs after Massey bought the coal mining operation near the Kanawha-Fayette county border in August 2004 from Horizon Natural Resources after the company went into bankruptcy.

As part of the transaction, a federal bankruptcy judge agreed to remove a clause of Horizon's contract with the United Mine Workers of America that required any buyers to maintain the union work agreement.

Last November, an administrative law judge ruled that the bankruptcy court ruling alone did not relieve Massey from an obligation to bargain collectively with workers. The judge concluded that Massey had "discriminatorily refused to hire its predecessor's employees" in order to avoid having a majority of union workers at the Mammoth operation.

In January, the National Labor Review Board asked Goodwin for an injunction forcing Massey to rehire the displaced union miners, alleging that Massey discriminated against them when it began hiring at the Mammoth complex.

Union spokesman Phil Smith said Friday evening that UMW officials were withholding comment until the union's attorneys have had a chance to review Goodwin's ruling.

A message left for a Massey attorney late Friday evening was not returned.

Although Goodwin's order requires Massey to offer interim jobs to the union miners, it does not require the company to recognize the UMW as the bargaining representative for all workers at the mine and begin negotiating a new agreement, as the NLRB had requested.

"Ordering bargaining would likely increase the strength of the union. But it has not been established that in the absence of bargaining the union would be irrevocably weakened," the order states.

Forcing Massey to offer jobs to the union miners is sufficient, according to the ruling.

"It will keep the [union miners] at Mammoth, preserving the ability of the Board to reinstate these employees, and it will lessen the chilling effect that [Massey's] alleged discrimination may have had on all of [its] employees," the ruling states.

Massey has not demonstrated that the company will suffer harm if it has to hire experienced miners, Goodwin wrote, noting that Massey had advertised in Charleston newspapers for "experienced and inexperienced surface and underground miners" as recently as March 30.

"It is unlikely that ordering [Massey] to offer the discriminatees jobs would lead to massive displacements of current workers or layoffs," Goodwin wrote. "After all, the current workforce only exists because of the petitioner's discriminatory conduct."

Some miners have moved away or accepted other jobs, the order notes. Michael Cordle, for example, took a job at Patriot Coal doing manual labor underground, although he worked on the surface at Mammoth. His commute jumped from 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, he testified at an earlier hearing, and now he doesn't have time to mow his own grass or spend time with his family.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.