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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Aug. 29, 2020
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

11. Commitments and Contingencies

Lease Commitments

The Company has operating leases for certain operating facilities, vehicles and equipment, which provide the right to use the underlying asset and require lease payments over the term of the lease. Each new contract is evaluated to determine if an arrangement contains a lease and whether that lease meets the classification criteria of a finance or operating lease. All identified leases are recorded on the consolidated balance sheet with a corresponding operating lease right-of-use asset, net, representing the right to use the underlying asset for the lease term and the operating lease liabilities representing the obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Short-term operating leases, which have an initial term of twelve months or less, are not recorded on the consolidated balance sheet.

Operating lease right-of-use assets, net and operating lease liabilities are recognized at the commencement date of the lease based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term and include options to extend or terminate the lease when they are reasonably certain to be exercised. The present value of lease payments is determined primarily using the incremental borrowing rate based on the information available as of the lease commencement date. Lease expense for operating leases is recorded on a straight-line basis over the lease term and variable lease costs are recorded as incurred. Both lease expense and variable lease costs are primarily recorded in cost of revenues on the Company's consolidated statements of income. The Company's lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

The following table presents the operating lease cost and information related to the operating lease right-of-use assets, net and operating lease liabilities for the fifty-two weeks ended August 29, 2020:

 

(In thousands, except lease term and discount rate)

 

 

 

 

Lease cost

 

 

 

 

Operating lease costs including short-term lease expense and variable lease costs, which were immaterial in the period

 

$

18,125

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating cash flow impacts

 

 

 

 

Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities

 

$

13,048

 

Operating lease right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new operating lease liabilities

 

$

7,407

 

Weighted-average remaining lease term - operating leases

 

4.3

 

Weighted-average discount rate - operating leases

 

 

2.76

%

 

Total rent expense on all leases was $15.2 million, $16.5 million and $14.8 million for the fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.  The contractual future minimum lease payments of the Company's operating lease liabilities by fiscal year are as follows as of August 29, 2020:

 

 

(In thousands)

 

 

 

 

2021

 

$

13,458

 

2022

 

 

10,581

 

2023

 

 

7,692

 

2024

 

 

5,314

 

2025

 

 

3,288

 

Thereafter

 

 

3,895

 

Total payments

 

 

44,228

 

Less interest

 

 

2,380

 

Total present value of lease payments

 

$

41,848

 

 

Environmental and Legal Contingencies

The Company and its operations are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations governing, among other things, air emissions, wastewater discharges, and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other substances. In particular, industrial laundries currently use and must dispose of detergent waste water and other residues, and, in the past, used perchloroethylene and other dry-cleaning solvents. The Company is attentive to the environmental concerns surrounding the disposal of these materials and has, through the years, taken measures to avoid their improper disposal. The Company has settled, or contributed to the settlement of, past actions or claims brought against

the Company relating to the disposal of hazardous materials at several sites and there can be no assurance that the Company will not have to expend material amounts to remediate the consequences of any such disposal in the future.

U.S. GAAP requires that a liability for contingencies be recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine the existence of a liability, as well as the amount to be recorded. The Company regularly consults with attorneys and outside consultants in its consideration of the relevant facts and circumstances before recording a contingent liability. Changes in enacted laws, regulatory orders or decrees, management’s estimates of costs, risk-free interest rates, insurance proceeds, participation by other parties, the timing of payments, the input of the Company’s attorneys and outside consultants or other factual circumstances could have a material impact on the amounts recorded for environmental and other contingent liabilities.

Under environmental laws, an owner or lessee of real estate may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances located on, or in, or emanating from, such property, as well as related costs of investigation and property damage. Such laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or lessee knew of, or was responsible for the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. There can be no assurances that acquired or leased locations have been operated in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that future uses or conditions will not result in the imposition of liability upon the Company under such laws or expose the Company to third-party actions such as tort suits. The Company continues to address environmental conditions under terms of consent orders negotiated with the applicable environmental authorities or otherwise with respect to certain sites.

The Company has accrued certain costs related to certain sites, including but not limited to sites in Woburn and Somerville, Massachusetts, as it has been determined that the costs are probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company has potential exposure related to a parcel of land (the “Central Area”) related to a site in Woburn, Massachusetts. Currently, the consent decree for the Woburn site does not define or require any remediation work in the Central Area. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) has provided the Company and other signatories to the consent decree with comments on the design and implementation of groundwater and soil remedies at the Woburn site and investigation of environmental conditions in the Central Area. The Company, and other signatories, have implemented and proposed to do additional work at the Woburn site but many of the EPA’s comments remain to be resolved. The Company has accrued costs to perform certain work responsive to the EPA’s comments. Additionally, the Company has implemented mitigation measures and continues to monitor environmental conditions at the Somerville, Massachusetts site. The Company has received, responded, and agreed to undertake additional response actions pertaining to a notice of audit findings from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection concerning a regulatory submittal that the Company made in 2009 for a portion of the site.  The Company has received demands from the local transit authority for reimbursement of certain costs associated with its construction of a new municipal transit station in the area of the Somerville site. This station is part of an ongoing extension of the transit system. The Company has reserved for costs in connection with this matter; however, in light of the uncertainties associated with this matter, these costs and the related reserve may change.

The Company routinely reviews and evaluates sites that may require remediation and monitoring and determines its estimated costs based on various estimates and assumptions. These estimates are developed using its internal sources or by third party environmental engineers or other service providers. Internally developed estimates are based on:

Management’s judgment and experience in remediating and monitoring the Company’s sites;

Information available from regulatory agencies as to costs of remediation and monitoring;

The number, financial resources and relative degree of responsibility of other potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) who may be liable for remediation and monitoring of a specific site; and

The typical allocation of costs among PRPs.

There is usually a range of reasonable estimates of the costs associated with each site. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company’s accruals reflect the amount within the range that it believes is the best estimate or the low end of a range of estimates if no point within the range is a better estimate. Where it believes that both the amount of a particular liability and the timing of the payments are reliably determinable, the Company adjusts the cost in current dollars using a rate of 3% for inflation until the time of expected payment and discounts the cost to present value using current risk-free interest rates. As of August 29, 2020, the risk-free interest rates utilized by the Company ranged from 0.7 to 1.5%.

For environmental liabilities that have been discounted, the Company includes interest accretion, based on the effective interest method, in selling and administrative expenses on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income. The changes to the Company’s environmental liabilities for fiscal 2020 and 2019 were as follows (in thousands):

 

Year ended

 

August 29,

2020

 

 

August 31,

2019

 

Beginning balance

 

$

27,718

 

 

$

25,486

 

Costs incurred for which reserves have been provided

 

 

(1,160

)

 

 

(1,079

)

Insurance proceeds

 

 

111

 

 

 

143

 

Interest accretion

 

 

537

 

 

 

755

 

Changes in discount rates

 

 

1,133

 

 

 

2,239

 

Revisions in estimates

 

 

2,363

 

 

 

174

 

Ending balance

 

$

30,702

 

 

$

27,718

 

 

Anticipated payments and insurance proceeds of currently identified environmental remediation liabilities as of August 29, 2020, for the next five fiscal years and thereafter, as measured in current dollars, are reflected below.

 

(In thousands)

 

2021

 

 

2022

 

 

2023

 

 

2024

 

 

2025

 

 

Thereafter

 

 

Total

 

Estimated costs—current dollars

 

$

11,368

 

 

$

2,668

 

 

$

1,371

 

 

$

1,073

 

 

$

1,076

 

 

$

11,852

 

 

$

29,408

 

Estimated insurance proceeds

 

 

(197

)

 

 

(159

)

 

 

(173

)

 

 

(159

)

 

 

(173

)

 

 

(521

)

 

 

(1,382

)

Net anticipated costs

 

$

11,171

 

 

$

2,509

 

 

$

1,198

 

 

$

914

 

 

$

903

 

 

$

11,331

 

 

$

28,026

 

Effect of inflation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7,251

 

Effect of discounting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4,575

)

Balance as of August 29, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$

30,702

 

 

Estimated insurance proceeds are primarily received from an annuity received as part of a legal settlement with an insurance company. Annual proceeds of approximately $0.3 million are deposited into an escrow account which funds remediation and monitoring costs for two sites related to former operations. Annual proceeds received but not expended in the current year accumulate in this account and may be used in future years for costs related to this site through the year 2027. As of August 29, 2020, the balance in this escrow account, which is held in a trust and is not recorded in the Company’s accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet, was approximately $4.5 million. Also included in estimated insurance proceeds are amounts the Company is entitled to receive pursuant to legal settlements as reimbursements from three insurance companies for estimated costs at one of its sites.

The Company’s nuclear garment decontamination facilities are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”), or, in certain cases, by the applicable state agency, and are subject to regulation by federal, state and local authorities. There can be no assurance that such regulation will not lead to material disruptions in the Company’s garment decontamination business.

During fiscal 2017, the Company recorded a pre-tax non-cash impairment charge of $55.8 million once it was determined that it was not probable that a Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) system that was being developed would be completed and placed into service. On December 28, 2018, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with its lead contractor for the version of the CRM system with respect to which the Company recorded the impairment charge. As part of the settlement agreement, the Company recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 a total gain of $21.1 million as a reduction of selling and administrative expenses, which includes the Company’s receipt of a one-time cash payment in the amount of $13.0 million as well as the forgiveness of amounts previously due the contractor. The Company also received hardware and related maintenance service with a fair value of $0.8 million as part of the settlement.

From time to time, the Company is also subject to legal proceedings and claims arising from the conduct of its business operations, including personal injury claims, customer contract matters, employment claims and environmental matters as described above.

While it is impossible for the Company to ascertain the ultimate legal and financial liability with respect to contingent liabilities, including lawsuits and environmental contingencies, the Company believes that the aggregate amount of such liabilities, if any, in excess of amounts covered by insurance have been properly accrued in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It is possible, however, that the future financial position and/or results of operations for any particular future period could be

materially affected by changes in the Company’s assumptions or strategies related to these contingencies or changes out of the Company’s control.

Other Contingent Liabilities

As security for certain agreements with the NRC and various state agencies related to the nuclear operations (see above) and certain insurance programs, the Company had standby irrevocable bank commercial letters of credit of $70.8 million and $71.8 million outstanding as of August 29, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively.

Non-cancellable purchase commitments for inventories, software, and services amounted to $22.4 million as of August 29, 2020, of which $19.0 million will be paid in less than 1 year, $3.2 million will be paid in 1 to 3 years, and the remaining will be paid in 3 to years.