Former Jeannette hemp plant employees receive inaccurate tax documents

About three months after employees at a Jeannette hemp processing facility found out they wouldn’t receive paychecks they were owed, they still haven’t been paid — and several say they have received inaccurate tax documents that further muddle an already confusing situation.

Tammy McCann of Greensburg said she received her W-2 this week. It says Patriot Shield Security paid her about $300 for work at the Jeannette warehouse. She claims she never got that money, however, and said it is less than what the company owes her.

She called Berkheimer Tax Innovations, the company that collects local taxes in Jeannette. She said a person with the company informed her that Patriot Shield had not paid local taxes for its employees.

“It was, like, are you serious?” she said. “I’m supposed to pay taxes on something that I never received?”

Officials with Patriot Shield and Berkheimer did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

A former supervisor at the warehouse, who asked not be named, said his W-2 shows he received $1,700 more than he was actually paid. Patriot Shield owes him about $3,000, he said.

There is some hope that employees could see their overdue pay soon.

Several employees said they received letters this week from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance. The bureau audited Patriot Shield and asked employees to sign and return a letter authorizing the bureau to “to take civil action to collect all wages and all penalty wages owed.”

The department did not return requests for comment.

For Rose Thomas of Jeannette, a former supervisor at the warehouse, the letter was a long time coming.

“I knew they owed me,” she said. “It’s about time someone’s getting our money.”

Patriot Shield employees say they’ve had trouble finding work since leaving the company.

“It’s been really hard for me to find work that pays well,” said former employee Cameron Trice. “A minimum-wage job doesn’t cut it, to be honest.”

Patriot Shield promised employees $13 an hour or more to process hemp, turning it into a smokeable product. The company had about 200 employees at its peak.

Trice worked for the company about a month without pay, leaving in December.

“They kept saying that we’re going to get through these hard times, but that’s all that they would really say,” he said.

McCann said Patriot Shield seemed like a godsend for her and her boyfriend. They both worked at the warehouse. For her, it was a second job — she’d spend mornings at a hotel and nights at the plant.

They’ve had to scrimp since leaving the company in November.

“We didn’t have a Christmas,” she said.

According to the IRS, employees who received an inaccurate W-2 should contact Patriot Shield to get an accurate version. If they cannot, they should contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 and fill out W-2 replacement Form 4852, available at irs.gov/Form4852.

The Patriot Shield facility on Thomas Avenue opened in September.

Jeannette and the state Department of Environmental Protection repeatedly ordered the company to cease operations because of a strong smell of marijuana emanating from the warehouse, but allowed the facility to reopen as Patriot Shield agreed to improve air scrubbing efforts and pay a $29,000 state fine.

There were cars in the parking lot on Tuesday, and people could be seen coming in and out of the warehouse. It is unclear what is being done there. Hemp is not in season.

Last year, the state did not require hemp processors to have permits. However, processors will need permits for the 2020 growing season, according to the state Department of Agriculture.