By Matt Snyder
EAST LACKAWANNOCK TOWNSHIP — An East Lackawannock Township car dealer has been charged with 318 felony counts of failing to provide workers’ compensation insurance between February and December last year.
District Judge Lorinda Hinch, Mercer, held to court those charges against Gregg McCandless, an agent of Bill McCandless Ford-Mercury Inc.
Pennsylvania doesn’t provide workers’ compensation insurance, so employers must, said a state Department of Labor and Industry spokeswoman. Workers’ compensation protects workers who are hurt on the job or suffer workplace-related illnesses, she said.
The charges leveled against McCandless are for each day employees went without insurance. The charges are felonies only when the failure to provide coverage is intentional, said the department spokeswoman.
An investigator with the Department of Labor and Industry, William C. King, filed the charges and said in a report that McCandless did not provide insurance from Feb. 16 through Dec. 31, 2006.
His report added that McCandless admitted on March 2 the business did not have the coverage.
McCandless was released on his own recognizance and referred calls to his attorney, William McConnell Jr. Several messages left for McConnell Wednesday afternoon and evening were not returned.
