| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Service |
| Founded | 1929, incorporated 1947 |
| Headquarters | Memphis, Tennessee, USA |
| Key people | Hank Mullany, Chief Executive Officer David Martin, Interim CFO Peter Tosches, SVP for Corporate Communications |
| Employees | 27,000 (2010) |
| Website | www.servicemaster.com |
ServiceMaster is a privately held Fortune 500 company that provides various services to residences and firms. Its headquarters are located in Memphis, Tennessee after moving there from Downers Grove, Illinois in early 2007.[1] Brands operated by ServiceMaster include: TruGreen, Terminix, American Home Shield, Furniture Medic, AmeriSpec, ServiceMaster Clean, and Merry Maids.[2] ServiceMaster was founded by Marion E. Wade, a minor league baseball player, as a moth-proofing company in Chicago, Illinois. It was incorporated in 1947 and expanded to franchised carpet cleaning in 1952. Its movement into business services makes it a large outsourcing company. The core services of the company include lawn care and landscape maintenance, termite and pest control, home service contracts, disaster response and reconstruction, cleaning and disaster restoration, house cleaning, furniture repair, and home inspection.
ServiceMaster has more than 5,100 company-owned and franchise locations around the country. It has 27,000 corporate employees and a franchise network that independently employs over 31,000 additional people.
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ServiceMaster strives to be perceived as a Christian-oriented company. Representatives explain that the name ServiceMaster comes from a Christian concept called "service thy master".[3]
The company asserts that their Christian leanings are evident in their first stated objective:
In March 2007, ServiceMaster accepted a $5.5 billion buyout offer from the New York-based private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. CD&R is a nearly 30-year-old, private equity firm with a history of buying and selling companies. Its purchases have included Kinko's, which it sold to FedEx in 2004 for $2.4 billion, and the Hertz rental car business, which it bought with two other firms for $15 billion in 2005.
On July 24, 2007 a lawsuit was filed against American Home Shield alleging that "American Home Shield engaged in a pattern and practice of failing to fulfill its contractual obligation to its customers". In February 2008 American Home Shield announced a proposed settlement.[6]
On May 31, 2008, Termite inspectors in California sued ServiceMaster and its Terminix Unit for failure to pay overtime, allow the opportunity for lunch and rest breaks,and for failure to reimburse vehicle and other work-required expenses.[4] The case challenged the company's classification of termite inspectors as "outside sales persons."[5] Federal and state labor laws exempt employers from the duty to pay overtime and minimum wages to "outside sales" employees.[6] The company characterized termite inspections as "sales activities" and contended its termite inspectors were, therefore, properly classified as sales persons.[6]. On June 20, 2011, the U.S. District Court held that termite inspections are not sales activities.[7] Although the case was filed as a class action, following the April 27, 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Federal Arbitration Act bars class actions in arbitration,[8] the company asserted its arbitration rights and the class action was denied; individual claims allowed. [9] Denial of a class action lifts a stay of the statute of limitations and thereafter requires claimants to file within the applicable time limits or forfeit the right to sue for back pay.[10]
[4] Pablo et al. v. ServiceMaster Global (Terminix), CASE NO. 3:08-cv-03894-SI(U.S. Dist. Ct. N. Dist. CA(filed May 31, 2008). [5]Id. [6] 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1). See generally Allan J. Schwartz, Who is employed in "capacity of outside salesman" within the meaning of 13(a)(1) of Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C.A. 213(a)(1)), as amended. [7] Pablo v.ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc., No. C 08-03894 SI, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64969,(N.D. Cal., June 20, 2011, supra. [8] AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, No. 09-893, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 131 S. Ct. 1740; 179 L. Ed. 2d 742; 2011 U.S. LEXIS 3367; 161 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P10,368; 22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 957; 52 Comm. Reg. (P & F) 1179,(April 27, 2011). [9] Pablo et al., supra. [10] See Am. Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, No. 72-1195, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 414 U.S. 538; 94 S. Ct. 756; 38 L. Ed. 2d 713; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 42;(January 16, 1974).