Disney to lay off 28,000 at its parks in California, Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Squeezed by limits on attendance at its theme
parks and other restrictions due to the pandemic, The Walt Disney Co.
said Tuesday it planned to lay off 28,000 workers in its parks division
in California and Florida.
Two-thirds of the planned layoffs
involve part-time workers but they ranged from salaried employees to
hourly workers, Disney officials said.
Disney’s parks closed last
spring as the pandemic started spreading in the U.S. The Florida parks
reopened this summer, but the California parks have yet to reopen as the
company awaits guidance from the state of California.
In a letter
to employees, Josh DÁmaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experience and
Product, said California’s “unwillingness to lift restrictions that
would allow Disneyland to reopen” exacerbated the situation for the
company.
DÁmaro said his management team had worked hard to try to
avoid layoffs. They had cut expenses, suspended projects and modified
operations but it wasn’t enough given limits on the number of people
allowed into the park because of social distancing restrictions and
other pandemic-related measures, he said.
“As heartbreaking as it
is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in
light of the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on our business, including
limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the
continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” he said.
Disney
officials said the company would provide severance packages for the
employees, where appropriate, and also offer other services to help
workers with job placement.
Disney officials didn’t offer a
breakdown of the layoffs between the Florida and California operations.
Walt Disney World in Florida has around 77,000 employees, while the
Disneyland Resort in California has more than 30,000 workers.
With
its parks closed due to the pandemic in April, Disney furloughed up to
43,000 workers while still paying for their health insurance at its
Florida resort. It brought many of them back after it reopened in July.
Furloughed workers in California also received health benefits.
In
a statement, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat from Orlando, said the
layoffs showed the need for more coronavirus-related relief from
Congress.
“These layoffs show yet again how desperately that assistance is needed by American households and businesses,” Demings said.