A federal jury has awarded $150,000 to a retired worker who refused to submit a hand scan over religious reasons.The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a suit against Consolidation Coal Company in West Virginia on behalf of Beverly Butcher in September 2013. Consol Energy is the company's parent firm.Butcher, an Evangelical Christian with 35 years of service at the mine, had refused to submit to biometric hand scanning for a time and attendance system at the mine, citing his view of the relationship between hand-scanning technology and the mark of the beast in the New Testament's Book of Revelation.Jurors awarded the compensatory damages to Butcher last week. A senior US District Judge will now schedule a hearing later to determine pay owed to Butcher.The EEOC said the West Virginia coal company acted outside anti-discrimination laws by demanding that Butcher submit the scan – he had resigned over the issue in 2013.An attorney for Consol, Jeff Grove, told The Exponent Telegram that the company will appeal the verdict to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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