CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Massey Energy and one of its subsidiaries unlawfully refused to hire former unionized employees at a West Virginia mine in order to avoid union obligations, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.

In its decision announced Friday, the board said Massey and Mammoth Coal Company violated the National Labor Relations Act by hiring only a portion of the workers of the Kanawha County it purchased out of bankruptcy in 2004.

The three-member board panel said the company went out of its way to avoid hiring the former employees that had long been represented by the United Mine Workers of America to ensure that the reopened mine would be non-union. The company hired only 19 of the former miners as part of the 219-person workforce. Because it was able to unlawfully eliminate the union majority, the company then lowered wages, the board said.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, a company cannot discriminate against union supporters in hiring and must recognize and bargain with the union if a majority of the buyer’s new employees came from the former union-represented workforce.

The board ordered the companies to offer employment to 85 former employees and make them whole for lost earnings, recognize and bargain with the union, and restore former employment conditions.

A spokesman for Bristol, Va.-based Alpha Natural Resources said while the issue took place before its 2011 takeover of Massey, it is reviewing the ruling and anticipates the company will appeal.