On Tuesday, Disney announced that it is laying off about 28,000 employees in the United States due to a loss of business related to the coronavirus pandemic. The company announced the layoffs across its parks, experiences and products segments in a letter to employees.
Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experience and Products, said 67% of those laid off will be part-time employees. D’Amaro wrote in the letter to employees that it was a “difficult decision” to make, adding, “As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude is not easy. For the last several months, our management team has worked tirelessly to avoid having to separate anyone from the company. We’ve cut expenses, suspended capital projects, furloughed our cast members while still paying benefits, and modified our operations to run as efficiently as possible, however, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while operating at such limited capacity.” D’Amaro said he hopes laid off cast members and employees can return to the company once it rebounds from the pandemic.
The company’s theme parks in Florida, Paris, Shanghai, Japan and Hong Kong have reopened after shutdowns earlier this year, though the locations in Anaheim, Calif., remain closed.
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