A Centre County company was recently assessed the largest court ordered penalty of its kind in the nation.
But could they be facing further penalties?
When construction contractor Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc, based here in State College, was criminally charged by the State Attorney Generals office in the Spring, Penndot issued a temporary suspension against the company, barring them from bidding on Penndot project.
That suspension was lifted by a court order, and the entire case has now been resolved here in Centre County court. But there’s
still question on whether the company will face any further sanctions from Penndot
In court the Hawbaker Company plead no contest to four felony charges involving wage theft accusations and they were ordered to pay close to 20.7 million dollars in restitution. Hawbakers is one of the states largest road contractors,they’ve done well over a billion dollars worth of business in recent years with Penndot.
With the court case resolved, we asked Penndot if any other suspensions or sanctions against the Hawbaker Company are coming. Here’s their response
“We are aware that Baker pled no contest to the Attorney General’s charges. We are reviewing the details of the plea and determining the next steps”
Earlier this month when the pleas were entered, the prosecutor, State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he doesn’t have the power to penalize Hawbaker through the procurement agencies the company deals with
“The procurement power rest with others. we have made ourselves available to those on the procurement side to answer whatever questions they have. we have don this in every public way. so those in charge of procurement are aware, so they now need to go make those decisions and they should be held accountable for those decisions going forward”
As part of the plea deal, a corporate monitor is assigned to review the Hawbaker company and issue reports for up to five years. Penndot also telling us they’re not one of the recipients of those
reports.
