Some of Murray's previous work.

Some of Murray's previous work.

Murray Energy CEO Bob Murray is notorious for using his workers as political props and pressuring them to donate to political candidates he supports, and now he's being sued for the latter. In 2012, Murray drew a lot of bad publicity for the former, when he forced coal miners to be unpaid props for a Mitt Romney campaign speech. In the wake of that story, his habit of instructing salaried employees to write checks to candidates he supports also got some attention. That habit is the focus of a lawsuit from a former preparation plant foreman who feels her firing was related to the fact that she didn't make the contributions Murray solicited.

Jean Cochenour was already a shift foreman when Murray Energy bought the plant where she worked in late 2013. She was fired in May 2014, supposedly because she allowed hourly workers to work overtime on Saturdays:



The suit alleges, though, that Cochenour was never told not to allow overtime work on a Saturday, that hourly employees were routinely scheduled for mandatory overtime on Saturdays at the prep plant and that Cochenour was not even in charge of the schedule for hourly employees at the prep plant.

During her time working for Murray, and continuing after she was fired, Cochenour received written requests from CEO Bob Murray to contribute to certain political candidates, the lawsuit says. The letters included the names of specific candidates and a request from Murray that Cochenour contribute a specific amount to each candidate. “Not only did Mr. Murray name candidates and specify the amount to be contributed to each candidate, but he also required that the political contributions be returned directly to him in a self-addressed envelope that he enclosed with each of his letters to her,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges that Murray kept track of who among his employees made the requested political contributions. It says that Cochenour declined to make the requested contributions.

According to Cochenour, whose suit also points out that she was the only woman in her role, more relevant than overtime is that:Murray Energy insists that Bob Murray doesn't even know who gives and who doesn't, and that these are personal fundraisers "which have nothing to do with Murray Energy." That's an interesting claim given that Alec MacGillis previously reported on the very specific pressure Murray applies , including that "at least one note came with a list of names of employees who had not yet given."

Of course, this is the United States. Bosses are allowed to do pretty much anything they want without facing meaningful penalties, and a lot of the pressure Murray puts on his workers to give money according to his personal political priorities is completely legal. The question here will center around whether he stepped over the line he habitually walks right on top of, and Cochenour may not be able to prove he did to a court's satisfaction. Reasonable people, however, may look at what we know about how Murray operates and come to the conclusion that her suit is entirely justified.