Merry Maids

The Merry Maids logo

A Merry Maids service vehicle

Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Service
Founded| 1979; 43 years ago (1979)
Headquarters| Memphis, Tennessee

Number of employees

| 8,000+ (in 2007)
Parent| ServiceMaster
Website| merrymaids.com

Merry Maids is an international franchisor which sells and supports residential cleaning services franchises throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.[1]: 298 [2]: 94 Merry Maids was founded in 1979, and was acquired with ServiceMaster in 1988.[1]: 298 [3]: 140 In 2007, the company had over 8,000 employees.[1]: 298

## Contents

* 1 Organizational structure
* 2 History
* 2.1 Timeline
* 3 Safety record
* 4 Labor relations
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Organizational structure[edit]

Merry Maids has 1,400 independently owned and operated franchises worldwide. It is a subsidiary of ServiceMaster.[4]

## History[edit]

### Timeline[edit]

* 1979 – Merry Maids was founded in Omaha, Nebraska by Dallen Peterson.[1]: 88–89 [3]: 140 Dallen worked with his family to create the company's system and franchise the company.[1]: 88–89
* 1988 – ServiceMaster Brands purchases Merry Maids.[1]: 88–89 [5]: 82

## Safety record[edit]

In 2015, Merry Maids was awarded the Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence by the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, with a record of no work-related injuries for over 1,580 days and no work-related fatalities in 23 years of operation.[6]: 31

## Labor relations[edit]

Several Merry Maids franchisees in the United States have been sued by their employees and by United States federal agencies for labor law violations.[7]: 219 In 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld an unfair labor practice order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against a Merry Maids franchisee, Merry Maids of Boston, in a dispute over the right of a labor union to hold a union representation election among its employees. The First Circuit ruled that the NLRB had jurisdiction in the case, and rejected the franchisee's claim that the behavior of certain employees made a fair election impossible.[8]: 4 [7]: 219

## See also[edit]

* List of cleaning companies

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Rich, J.R. (2007). The unofficial guide to opening a franchise. Unofficial Guides. Wiley. p. 298. ISBN 978-0-470-13193-0.
2. ^ Ehrenreich, B.; Hochschild, A.R. (2004). Global woman: nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-4299-6305-3.
3. ^ a b Vanderkam, L. (2010). 168 hours: you have more time than you think. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-43294-5.
4. ^ "Merry Maids franchise information". Entrepreneur. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
5. ^ Zook, C.; Allen, J. (2010). Profit from the core: a return to growth in turbulent times. Harvard Business Review Press. ISBN 978-1-4221-5713-8.
6. ^ Wolf, Tom; Manderino, Kathy M. (2015). Pennsylvania workers′ compensation and workplace safety 2015 annual report (PDF). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA: Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
7. ^ a b Kurin, Jaclyn (2017). "A third way for applying U.S. labor laws to the online gig economy: using the franchise business model to regulate gig workers". Journal of Business and Technology Law. 12 (2, Art. 4): 193–226 - via University of Maryland Digital Commons.
8. ^ Anthony, William J.; Lewis, Jackson (n.d.). "Employment law update" (PDF). Association of Corporate Counsel. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2017-11-09.

## External links[edit]

* Official Website