An appeals court ruled Monday that a West Virginia coal mining company interfered with a worker’s religious beliefs after the evangelical Christian likened the company’s biometric hand scanners to clock in and out to the “Mark of the Beast,” as described in the Book of Revelation. A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found Pennsylvania-based
Consol Energy Inc. erred in refusing to accommodate 37-year employee Beverly Butcher‘s religious beliefs. The appeals court denied the company a new trial and upheld the roughly $440,000 in lost wage and benefit damages. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Consol on behalf of the the coal miner, who retired under protest in 2012 when the company refused to accommodate his beliefs to not use the hand scanner. READ MORE
