Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

company which specializes in tree pruning and vegetation management for utilities and government agencies. The company also performs utility line construction and maintenance, electrical systems testing,

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

and highway lighting construction and maintenance, automated metering infrastructure and home

energy management Energy management includes planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units as well as energy distribution and storage. Energy management is performed via Energy Management Systems (EMS), which are designed with hardware ...

program implementation.Profile
at answers.com

History

The Asplundh Tree Expert Co. was founded in 1928 in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

by brothers Griffith, Lester and Carl Asplundh, members of a Swedish-American family who combined their educations and experience in arboriculture, electrical engineering and finance. The company specialized in "trimming trees around power and telephone lines." It was the first company to specialize in utility line clearance and vegetation management instead of residential services. In 1940, the first issue of ''The Asplundh TREE'' magazine was issued to crews; the magazine is still being published.Our History
at asplundh.com By this time, the company had expanded from Pennsylvania to the Midwest and the Middle Atlantic states. In 1956, a subsidiary company, Asplundh Brush Control Co., was established. In 1990, Asplundh acquired New York based B & J Maintenance Co., Inc, as well as L. Fulcher Electric, which was over five small clearance firms in France which became Asplundh's French subsidiary. Also during this year, the company expanded to New Zealand, acquiring Electrix Limited, which changed its name to Electrix Asplundh. By 1994, it had become the US's largest firm in utility clearance and one of the nation's largest privately held companies. Lisa (Lemole) Oz, the wife of former Pennsylvania senatorial candidate and television personality

Mehmet Oz Mehmet Cengiz Oz ( ; ; born June 11, 1960), also known as Dr. Oz (), is an American television presenter, physician, author, educator and government official serving as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sinc ...

, is the maternal granddaughter of one of the cofounders.

Illegal hiring

In 2017, the company pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge and was ordered to pay a $95 million fine, the largest ever in an immigration case. This was after an investigation by

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

found that Asplundh hired thousands of

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

between 2010 and 2014. The illegal hiring was first uncovered in a 2009 audit, and although Asplundh did dismiss the workers that same year, many of the same workers were rehired by their managers after using

fraudulent In law, fraud is intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover mone ...

documents. "We accept responsibility for the charges as outlined, and we apologize to our customers, associates and all other stakeholders for what has occurred," said Chairman and CEO Scott Asplundh in a statement at the time.

References

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External links

Official website
Companies based in Philadelphia American companies established in 1928 Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania 1928 establishments in Pennsylvania Illegal immigration to the United States