Total Home Repair, Ginn Services Sub-contractor agreements cheat employees from final payment Ripoff Houston Clear Lake Area Texas

I responded to a local press advertisement for employment as a painter to a Thomas Ginn of Ginn Services by phone and was asked to interview with Mr Ginn the next day. I reported my qualifications to Mr. Ginn and was asked to supervise a crew of painters as he was forming a new office and clientel in the Clear Lake area .As I was not interested in temporary employment as a subcontractor for Mr Ginn, he offered me full time employment with his company supervising workers and performing my craft in the local area. I accepted and began working on 16 May 2005 at the hourly rate of twenty dollars an hour. I did agree to be temporarly employed as a subcontractor for the first two weeks untill Mr Ginn could make arrangements for the necessary insurance coverage and furnish his newly opened office in Clear Lake with the proper paper work he needed me to sign. I hold Thomas Ginn to his original, verbal agreement which limited the time of my Subcontract Labor Agreement and deserve to be considered a full time employee as of the third week of the job I performed for him. As pruff of the Verbal Agreement I offer the E-Mail dated 11 May 2005 from Thomas Ginn which clearly limits the term of the agreements I signed.

I was unaware Mr Ginn was improperly conducting his business in Galveston County untill the 14th day of October 2005. While filing a last minite Property Lein against Mr.and Mrs Cassity's property( the customers house I painted for Mr Ginn) the Galveston County Deputy Mrs. S. Neal informed me that there was no contractor D.B.A for Thomas E. Ginn or either company, Ginn Services or Total Home Repair. I thought i was working for a legitimate contractor legaly conducting business untill the fourth week of the job while handing me the payroll Mr Ginn boasted of his cheating the two helpers who had been terminated, of $90.00 per man for 3 T-shirts he required them to wear at work, and that because of an agreement they had signed, had cut their pay to $5.50 per hour from the $8.00 and $8.75 they were promised. It was at that point, that day I warned the homeowner of her liability of a Mechanics or Property Lein against her, if Thomas Ginn did not pay his employees.

I began my trade in 1971 at my local high school in an Vocational Training course Paint and Body Repair 1&2 and have spent most of my adult life working in my trade. I have performed my trade with dignity and have never been accused of the slander made of me by Mr Ginn and his attourney. I served as a Journeyman Painter with The Houston Painters Local Union from 1978 untill 1990 serving on the Apprenticeship Committe and as the Recording Secretary of my Union. I have been trained in most every aspect of my trade and am most proficent in my craft. I was accused of poor workmanship, making slanderous statments, mischevious conduct, theft and threatened with a $100,000.00 law suit because I stood up for myself and the crew of men I felt responisable for.I myself performed the most difficult and dangerous task of this job, risking injury to myself. No mistakes were made by any workers, the customer was totally happy with the work done(Verified by her E-Mail dated 22 June 2005). Myself and two journeymen were not paid for approximatly two weeks of pay for work done on The Cassitys home, my figure was $1,290.00 Mr Ginns attourney qouted $1,340.00 probably a more accurate figure probably given to him by Mr. Ginn ( since Mr. Ginn did not furnish employees with an accounting of hours paid). I employ the Texas Workforce Commission to severly fine Mr. Ginn and require him to post a bond, encouraging him to conduct his businesses with truth and integrety.

Mr. Ginns attourrney claims in his letter dated 8 July 2005 that I was paid $3704.56, and that is probably true. He states in that letter that I claim I am owed $ 1,340.00. Im not sure where he got that figure because we never spoke and the only figure I used was was what I belived I was owed $1,.290.00. I was paid with 4 or 5 checks from Mr. Ginn, only two of which were payroll checks the rest were for material reimbursment, which I clearly wrote on the checks. During the course of the five week plus period I worked on the Cassity home I recived two payroll checks, the first for a little more than $1,000.00 as he held back the first weeks pay, and the second payroll check for about $2,020.00. As I were not given a itemised check stub and was unaware of the hours I was being paid for. I gave the material recipts to Mr. Ginn for reimbursment,trusting he would make copies and return them to me, he did not.

I am currrently pursuing payment through the Texas Workforce Commission under the Texas Payday Law. My original Wage Clain was denied as I had agreed temporarly (for a two week period) to work as a subcontractor. Mr. Ginn had sent me a verification of our verbal agreement in an E-mail and I have based my case on it for a Special Hearing. If I win only four men will have been cheated. Mr. Ginn is a consumate liar and can easily gain the confidence of customers and new employees. He will prey on the wealthiest customer base he can find (homeowners owning homes from $250.000 to $2,000.000. I currently have filed a lein against the homeowner to recover my wages.

Ronald seabrook, Texas
U.S.A.