PITTSBURGH -- The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigator Paul Van Osdol that first aired Sept. 3, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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A Team 4 investigation finds the state is accusing a local company of forcing its workers to kick back part of their paychecks to the company owner.

The state says the workers are owed thousands of dollars from a Penn State construction project.

Workers at GF Insulations told Team 4 that company owner Greg Fernberg ordered them to pay him back nearly one-third of their weekly paychecks in cash. The state says that's illegal.

The workers complained to the state labor department, but they say nothing was done until Team 4 started asking questions.

GF Insulations employees were cutting insulation and wrapping it around pipes. The company helped renovate two buildings at the Penn State Shenango campus in Sharon.

Companies doing taxpayer-funded work are required to pay a minimum wage, known as the prevailing wage. For the insulators, that was $42 an hour.

These former GF employees say Fernberg did not want to pay them that much.

"I had to kick back $13 an hour directly to him in cash," former employee Brian Firth said.

The workers say they would give the cash to Fernberg directly, or they would put it in an envelope and bring it to the office in Columbiana, Ohio, and slide the envelope under the office door.

Fernberg told them the money was for health benefits, but they weren't so sure.

"Some of the questions some of the guys raised was, if that's the case then take it out of my check. And he said no, it has to be cash," former employee Dan Adams said.

"Why did you do it?" Van Osdol asked former employee Bob Duffy.

"I had a little girl at home. I had a wife at home. I had to take care of my family somehow," Duffy said.

Team 4 did not find Fernberg at his office.

In a telephone interview, Van Osdol asked if Fernberg ordered the workers to pay him cash. Fernberg said, "No, it did not happen," and he called them "disgruntled former employees."

In January, after leaving GF, the four ex-employees spelled out their complaints in sworn affidavits and sent them to the state Department of Labor and Industry.

But they say they never heard back from the agency, and that was upsetting to the workers and their union representative, Jim Cassidy.

"I believe it was totally ignored," Cassidy said.

Three weeks ago, after Team 4 started asking questions, the state filed a complaint against Fernberg and GF Insulations seeking nearly $12,000 in back wages.

"It's been over eight months since the allegations were first brought. Why such a delay in that case?" Van Osdol asked.

"We don't take shortcuts. We do a complete and thorough investigation," said Robert O'Brien, the Department of Labor and Industry’s deputy secretary for safety and labor management relations.

The workers hope the investigation does more than just pay them back money they feel they're owed.

"The only fair thing is to make sure it doesn't happen again," Adams said.

"Why should the average taxpayer be concerned about what happened to you guys?" Van Osdol asked.

"It's their money," Duffy said.

If the state proves its case, GF Insulations will not only have to pay back the workers, but it could lose the right to bid for state-funded projects for three years.

GF is fighting the allegations, saying the state made little effort to contact them before filing its complaint.

Despite the workers' criticism, Gov. Ed Rendell's administration says it's been more aggressive investigating prevailing wage cases than any of its predecessors.

But the union critics say the administration has been noticeably less aggressive since Rendell won a second term.

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