HARRISBURG—Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that Scott Good, a Centre County contractor, has pleaded guilty to stealing employees’ wages for five years. The guilty plea is the result of an investigation, which found that he underpaid workers on prevailing wage projects. The theft totaled more than $64,000 in wages and benefits, which will be paid back in restitution.
“This guilty plea will help boost income for working Pennsylvanians and puts companies on notice that we will hold them accountable if they illegally underpay workers,” said AG Shapiro. “This kind of theft undercuts honest businesses and means thousands of people get less money than they are legally owed each and every payday. It’s wrong, it’s illegal, and my office is investigating wage theft to help everyone who has ever been cheated out of their full paycheck.”
The Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act protects workers by ensuring that all contractors for projects that receive state or federal funding pay the same fair wage. The required wages and benefits change depending on the classification of the worker.
Good was charged after a 21-month Statewide Grand Jury investigation prompted by allegations of theft of wages and benefits from employees on a $16 million public works project in Clearfield County for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 2014. The Grand Jury found that Good intentionally failed to pay workers the required prevailing wage by directing journeyman electricians and plumbers to record portions of their work hours as lower-paid laborers.
Scott Good pleaded guilty to five counts of Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Funds. Goodco Mechanical, Inc. will plead guilty to one count of Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Funds. Good and Goodco will be required to pay $64,157.09 in restitution. The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte and Deputy Attorney General Philip McCarthy.
AG Shapiro created the Office of Attorney General’s first Fair Labor Section dedicated to defending the rights of Pennsylvania workers and ensuring that employers do not steal wages, misclassify workers, and discriminate against employees.
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