CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
It's been four years since then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro promised to ban a company from getting PennDOT contracts after prosecuting it for stealing millions from employees.
But Action News Investigates learned that the same company has gotten more than $300 million from PennDOT in just the past two years, while Shapiro was governor.
Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. of State College is being paid $19 million for a project on Franklin Road in Cranberry Township, and $16 million to reconstruct a five-mile segment of U.S. 6 in Mercer County.
Four years ago, the company pleaded no contest to charges that it stole more than $20 million in wages from its employees. As part of a plea deal, Hawbaker agreed to pay back its employees.
Hawbaker officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“If you steal from your employees, if you misclassify workers, if you violate our labor laws, we are going to find you and we are going to hold you accountable,” Shapiro said in April 2021 after filing charges against the company.
Following the plea agreement, the state moved to bar Hawbaker from getting taxpayer-funded contracts, but the company appealed.
In November 2023, the state Supreme Court sided with the state, saying PennDOT could ban Hawbaker from getting contracts.
Following the decision, a PennDOT spokesperson said the agency "can now do what it sought to do in 2021 and begin the process to determine whether Glenn O. Hawbaker should continue to be a pre-qualified vendor."
But records obtained by Action News Investigates show that since the Supreme Court decision, PennDOT has awarded Hawbaker $304 million in contracts.
Asked why the company is still getting work, PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll said: “The Supreme Court kicked it back down to the Commonwealth Court to rehear portions of the case. So, the appellate court system is not noted for its speed sometimes."
In a separate case, Hawbaker filed an appeal after another agency, the Department of Labor and Industry, also tried to bar the company from state contracts. Hawbaker lost in Common Pleas and Superior Court, and last month asked the state Supreme Court to hear the case.
While the appeals drag on, Hawbaker is allowed to work for the state and get millions in contracts.
Earlier this year, Shapiro said, “I think if you rip off the people that work for you, you rip off the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, you shouldn't be rewarded with state business. "
Action News Investigates asked Shapiro why Hawbaker is still getting rewarded with state business.
"Obviously, my view is they shouldn't be eligible, but there is a separate process that has to go on that began during the Wolf administration and is reaching, I think, its conclusion now,” Shapiro said.
But the delays are a major concern for Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council.
“It is concerning. There's no doubt about it. I know the case very well. They do have contracts everywhere. And it is being raised through our state association to PennDOT. And I'm very interested to see where we go from there,” Kelly said.
It could take another couple of months for the Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the latest appeal.
If the court takes the case, Hawbaker could continue getting contracts for another year before there is a final ruling.