CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Some 1,700 employees of a bankrupt coal mining company would get up to $17.3 million in back pay under a proposed class-action settlement. Ned Pillersdorf is an attorney for the former employees of Milton, West Virginia-based Blackjewel in Wyoming and Appalachia. Pillersdorf tells KTWO Radio that workers could get checks early next year depending on the outcome of bankruptcy court hearings this fall. Blackjewel all but completely shut down operations, including its vast Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines in northeastern Wyoming, after filing for bankruptcy in July 2019. The bankruptcy put about 600 employees in Wyoming and 1,100 in Appalachia out of work.