A Democrat nominee in Pennsylvania allegedly violated state law when it came to a workers’ compensation insurance policy, per the Washington Free Beacon.
The outlet said it reviewed records showing the nominee for the state’s Seventh Congressional District, Bob Brooks, allegedly did not have such a policy for several years, the outlet reported Thursday:
Brooks Lawn Care LLC, which Brooks founded in 2013, canceled its workers’ compensation insurance on Nov. 30, 2017, and did not take out a new policy until Dec. 28, 2021, according to state records. Pennsylvania law states that workers’ compensation insurance is “mandatory for all employers who have one or more employees, whether they’re part-time or full-time, including family members.” Businesses that don’t hold a policy face a $2,500 fine and up to one year in prison for each day the employer doesn’t have coverage—that can increase to $15,000 and up to seven years in prison if the employer intentionally violated the requirement.
According to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s website, workers compensation “is a system that provides benefits to employees who are injured or become ill due to their job duties. It covers medical expenses and lost wages for workers who are unable to return to work due to a work-related injury or illness.”
Brooks won the Democrat nomination in May and will face Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R) in November, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
He had support “from the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which targeted the 7th District among four in Pennsylvania and more than 40 across the country in an effort to flip Republican-held seats and win a majority in the House,” the article read.
He was endorsed by several Democrat leaders including Gov. Josh Shapiro, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to his campaign website.
“The lack of workers’ compensation insurance is particularly striking given Brooks’s own history on the topic. Brooks, a retired firefighter, has served as president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association since 2021. In 2024, as leader of the organization, he successfully advocated for a state law to expand workers’ compensation insurance to increase coverage for first responders with post-traumatic stress injury,” the Beacon article stated.
His campaign website also claimed Brooks has “spent his entire life fighting for working families” and he “never lost sight of where he comes from or who he’s fighting for.”