Josh Shapiro sued this company for wage theft. Now, they’re endorsing his opponent

Glenn O. Hawbaker was sued in 2021 for more than $20 million for stealing from their employees over the span of three decades. 

One of labor’s biggest compliments for Gov. Josh Shapiro has been his work reigning in wage theft violations and worker misclassification throughout his tenure as attorney general and governor. 

“As attorney general, [Shapiro] put together a unit to go after wage theft and to go after misclassification and things like that. Things that we care about, that we’ve been talking about for a long time,” Daniel Bauder, President of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, said in a previous interview. 

He added, “[Shapiro]  has been able to get something done in that arena and has had historic victories in court as attorney general and criminal penalties for people who were practicing wage theft.”

While serving as attorney general, Shapiro sued Glenn O. Hawbaker, a Centre County contractor, for committing the largest act of wage theft in US history. Now, owners and family members associated with the company are backing Shapiro’s gubernatorial opponent, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity. 

Campaign finance reports from the Pennsylvania Department of State show that Daniel Hawbaker, President and CEO of Glenn O. Hawbaker, donated $2,000 to Garrity’s campaign last fall, while another family member, Jennifer Hawbaker, donated an additional $500.  

Glenn O. Hawbaker stole more than $20 million over three decades from their employees by taking funds from prevailing wage construction projects that were supposed to pay employee benefits. At the time, the company pleaded no contest to the charges and agreed to pay $20.6 million in restitution to more than 1,200 employees. 

In the aftermath of the lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has the authority to cancel its contracts with the construction company, but Hawbaker has been awarded over $300 million in contracts since then. 

Glenn O. Hawbaker maintained that “the fringe benefit practices challenged by the Office of Attorney General were based upon advice provided by the company’s former attorneys. Hawbaker has always intended to properly pay all of its employees.”

Representatives from Glenn O. Hawbaker and Garrity’s campaign did not provide comment at the time of this writing.