Commissioner: State Has Backlog of Black Lung Claims

Department of Workers’ Claims Commissioner Dwight Lovan told a Kentucky legislative committee Thursday that the state has a backlog of more than 1,000 coal miners who have filed workers’ compensation claims because of black lung disease, according to a news report.Lovan told the Interim Joint Committee on Labor and Industry that more than 300 claims have been filed so far in 2014, and none of them have been processed. He told the committee that the department could have 500 new claims this year.The eastern part of the state has lost more than 7,000 direct coal-mining jobs since the...