Coronavirus Layoffs: Uber Cuts 3,700 Workers Amid Pandemic

Topline: As the coronavirus pandemic keeps Americans confined to their homes, nearly every industry has been negatively impacted by the disease, and businesses losing out on cash flow have started laying off workers.

Here’s who’s axed staff so far:

Airlines & Transportation

• Air Canada will lay off 5,100 members of its cabin crew, about half of its current roster, as its planned flights for April have been cut by nearly 80%.
• Air New Zealand will let 3,500 workers go, equaling about one-third of its workforce.
• Avis Car Rental Boston’s Logan International Airport reportedly laid off an undisclosed number of workers.
• Boeing will eliminate 10% of its workforce, reportedly through voluntary layoffs, natural turnover and involuntary layoffs.
• Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of car renters Enterprise, National and Alamo laid off 743 workers in North Carolina.
• Flight Centre, Australia’s largest travel agent, is laying off and putting on leave a third of its 20,000 employees.
• Helloworld Travel, an Australian travel agent, let 275 employees go.
• Car rental company Hertz plans to lay off 10,000 workers from its North American business.
• Ridesharing company Lyft let 982 workers go, an elimination of 17% of its workforce; an additional 288 were furloughed.
• Norwegian Air said that it would temporarily lay off up to 50% of its workforce, meaning 7,300 workers, and suspend 4,000 flights due to the pandemic.
• Scandinavian Airlines said Sunday it will temporarily lay off 10,000 employees, equal to 90% of their staff.
• Stena Line, a European ferry operator, announced that 950 jobs would be cut in Sweden due to a sharp decline in travel bookings.
• Canadian airline and travel company Transat AT let go of 3,600 workers, or about 70% of its workforce.
• TripAdvisor eliminated 600 roles in the U.S. and Canada, and 300 more in other countries, as part of a 25% workforce reduction; an undisclosed number were furloughed.
• ZipCar, a car rental company, laid off 20% of its 500 workers.

Airports

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

• Film studio 20th Century Fox dismissed 120 Los Angeles-based employees.
• The Houston-based Alley Theatre laid off 75% of its staff and implemented pay cuts for those remaining.
• Caesars Entertainment Corp. has also begun pandemic-prompted layoffs.
• Christie Lights, an Orlando, Florida, stage lighting company, laid off 100 employees.
• Toronto-based movie theater chain Cineplex Inc. laid off thousands of part-time workers after being forced to shut its 165 locations across Canada and the U.S.
• The Circuit of the Americas, an Austin, Texas-based concert, automobile racing, conference and entertainment complex, said it was laying off an undisclosed number of workers after being indefinitely closed due to coronavirus.
• Montreal-based circus producer Cirque du Soleil will lay off 4,679 people—95% of its staff.
• Talent agency Endeavor laid off 250 workers, with the first wave focusing on those who cannot do their jobs from home, such as restaurant workers.
• The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, IATSE, estimated that 120,000 jobs for film workers, including technicians, artisans and other crew positions have been eliminated.
• Lifestyle branding agency Karla Otto laid off approximately 28 New York City employees and several others in its Los Angeles office.
• Public relations firm Krupp Group laid off an undisclosed number of New York and Los Angeles employees.
• About 300 workers across the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Hancock Shaker Village will be out of jobs by mid-April.
• New Jersey’s McCarter Theater said an undisclosed number of full-time and seasonal workers across every department will be laid off from May 15.
• Production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios let 7% of its workforce go, resulting in about 50 positions being eliminated.
• New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art laid off 81 employees.
• The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California, let go of all 97 part-time staffers.
• About 85 freelancers in Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art have been cut.
• Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut laid off approximately 200 workers.
• Hollywood talent agency Paradigm laid off around 100 employees and reduced payroll for the remaining 500.
• New York-based agency PR Consulting let 32 employees go.
• The Science Museum of Minnesota temporarily laid off 400 employees.
• Boutique fashion and hospitality agency Sequel let an undisclosed number of workers go.
• SkyCity Entertainment laid off or furloughed at least 1,100 workers.
• At least 50 employees of music and culture festival South By Southwest were let go after this year’s event was canceled, the Washington Post reported.
• Creative agency Spring reduced staff in Los Angeles and London.
• TeamSanJose, which oversees events at multiple California theaters and convention centers, temporarily let go of approximately 1,300 workers.
• New York City’s Whitney Museum laid off 76 workers.
• Improvisational theater and school Upright Citizens Brigade laid off dozens of workers.
• ViacomCBS let an undisclosed number of contract workers go.

Education

Finance

Government

Healthcare

Hotels

• Carmel Valley Ranch in California laid off 600 workers.
• The Carlyle and Plaza Hotels laid off hundreds of workers.
• Claremont Hotel Properties in California’s Oakland and Berkeley areas has let go of 514 people.
• Eden Roc Hotels, in Miami, Florida, laid off 257 employees from its housekeeping, spa and banquet workforces.
• The Four Seasons hotel in Vail, Colorado dismissed about 240 staffers.
• Colorado’s largest hotel, the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, laid off 800 workers.
• Great Wolf Lodge is laying off around 440 employees from its Colorado Springs location.
• Kimpton Hotel Aventi in Manhattan, owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group, reportedly laid off 40 employees, while the Ian Schrager-owned Public temporarily laid off an undisclosed number of workers.
• Las Alcobas Resort & Spa in California’s Napa go of approximately 140 employees.
• Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel company, said tens of thousands of hotel workers will be furloughed, and will lay off a number of those workers.
• McMenamins, the Northwest’s largest hotel chain and brewpub, let 3,000 employees go.
• MGM Resorts said it would furlough workers and begin layoffs on Monday, but immediately let some staffers go from undisclosed parts of its business.
• Over five dozen workers were laid off from West Virginia’s Oglebay Resort and Conference Center.
• SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels laid off 3,000 of its China employees earlier in the month, equaling 30% of its workforce there, part of a global layoff of 5,000.
• The Palace Hotel in San Francisco has temporarily eliminated 774 positions.
• Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, which owns 54 hotels, laid off half of its 8,000 workers and may need to cut an additional 2,000.
• Australia-based Redcape Hotel Group will cut most of its 800-person staff.
• In San Francisco, California, the RIU Plaza Fisherman’s Wharf dismissed nearly 210 workers.
• Sage Hospitality Group let go of 465 workers across three properties in Denver, Colorado.
• Scandic, the largest hotel operator in Europe’s Nordic countries, also said it would give termination notices to 2,000 Swedish employees.
• Sydell Hotels dismissed around 180 workers.
• Workers at President Trump’s hotels—160 in Washington, D.C., 51 in New York City and an unknown number at his Las Vegas, Nevada location—were laid off.
• The Warwick Rittenhouse Square Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania laid off 53 workers.
• The Westin Boston Waterfront cut 435 workers.
• Ventana Big Sur, also in California, let go of around 260 workers.

Industry

• North Dakota-based water management and well logistics company MBI Energy Services laid off over 200 workers.

Manufacturing & Logistics

• Lightweight metals manufacturer Arconic laid off 100 workers from its Lafayette, Indiana plant.
• Power substation and transformer manufacturer Delta Sky let go of an undisclosed number of employees.
• General Electric laid off about 10% of its jet engine workforce, around 2,500 workers.
• Union leaders at a General Motors plant in Ontario, Canada have recommended a two week layoff due to concerns over the virus.
• Metal plating finisher Marsh Plating Corp. in Michigan temporarily laid off 97 workers.
• Mitchell Plastics of Charlestown, Indiana, has temporarily laid off 36o workers.
• The Port of Los Angeles let go of 145 drivers after ships from China stopped arriving.
• Michigan-based woodworker Schafer Woodworks Inc. temporarily laid off 25 employees.
• Tilden Mining Co., located in Michigan, temporarily laid off over 680 workers after idling operations April 26.
• Minnesota-based cabinetmaker Wayzata Home Products had to lay off its entire 141 person staff.

Real Estate

Restaurants & Dining

• “All restaurant staff” were reportedly let go at Aqimero, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Ritz-Carlton hotel.
• Bon Appetit Management Company, a retail dining employer for college campuses, laid off 140 workers from the University of Pennsylvania.
• Oregon-based Burgerville laid off 162 workers.
• Cameron Mitchell Restaurants furloughed 4,500 workers, with 90 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Ocean Prime restaurant reportedly laid off.
• Compass Coffee, a Washington, D.C. Starbucks competitor, laid off 150 of its 189 employees—equaling 80 percent of its staff.
• Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group laid off 2,000 workers, which is 80% of its workforce.
• Austin, Texas-based Dyn365 is laying off 95 office workers.
• Earl’s Restaurants, Inc. in Boston laid off around 360 workers from two locations.
• Eatwell DC, a District of Columbia-based restaurant group, let go of 160 employees.
• Founders Brewing Co., a Grand Rapids, Michigan beer maker, let 163 workers go.
• Six Friendly’s restaurants in Connecticut temporarily laid off about 120 workers.
• HMSHost, a Seattle, Washington, global restaurant-services provider said it would lay off 200 people and an area corporate shuttle service would lay off 75, HuffPost reported.
• Austin, Texas-based JuiceLand let go of of approximately 225 workers.
• Landry’s Inc., the parent company of Del Frisco’s and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (along with the Golden Nugget casinos) had to temporarily lay off 40,000 workers.
• Levy’s Premium Foodservice, which provides services to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, has let go of 613 workers.
• Detroit, Michigan-based Punch Bowl Social laid off 97 workers.
• Shake Shack let 20% of its New York City-based corporate staff go.
• Trump National Doral restaurant BLT Prime in Miami, Florida, laid off 98 workers.
• California-based Vesta Food Service has let 310 workers go.

Retail

• Tech boutique B8ta reportedly laid off half of its corporate staff.
• Massachusetts-based marijuana dispensary Cultivate laid off an unknown number of workers.
• Destination XL, based in Massachusetts, cut 245 brick-and-mortar store jobs.
• Shoe retailer DSW put up to 80% of its workers on a temporary unpaid leave of absence, according to a statement from a spokesperson to Forbes.
• Australian department store chain Myer Holdings has temporarily laid off 10,000 of its workers.
• Stationery and crafts store Paper Source let go of 88 workers across Massachusetts.
• U.K.-based retailer Primark laid off 347 workers from locations around Massachusetts.
• Cosmetics retailer Sephora let go of some part-time and seasonal workers in its U.S. business; Canadian corporate employees are working reduced hours.
• Laura Ashley, the British homewares and bedding maker, filed for administration (the U.K.’s version of bankruptcy) after rescue talks were impeded by the coronavirus outbreak.
• New York City bookseller McNally Jackson, which operates four locations, temporarily laid off its employees, but intends to hire them back “as soon as we can,” according to the company’s Instagram account.
• Mountain Equipment Co-op, a Canadian outdoor recreation retailer, will let go of 1,300 employees by March 29.
• Simon Property Group, America’s largest mall owner, laid off an undisclosed number of employees while furloughing an additional 30% of its workforce.
• Inclusive bra maker ThirdLove laid off 30 to 35% of its staff.
• Mattress upstart Tuft & Needle let go of an undisclosed number of retail store workers.
• Sportswear maker Under Armour laid off around 600 warehouse workers in the Baltimore, Maryland area.

Silicon Valley & Technology

• Airbnb cut 25% of its workforce—about 1,900 employees—and is halting projects related to hotels, luxury stays and transportation.
• Vehicle sharing platform Bird laid off 30% of its workforce, which came to 406 employees out of its workforce of over 1,300.
• Employee equity management startup Carta laid of 161 employees, or about 16% of its workforce.
• Fitness platform ClassPass let go of 22% of its employees, while furloughing an additional 31%.
• New York City real estate startup Compass laid off 15% of its workforce.
• Cryptocurrency incubator ConsenSys laid off 91 employees, about 14% of its workforce.
• Cloud software startup D2iQ (formerly known as Mesosphere) reportedly laid off 34 employees.
• Boston-based AI company DataRobot let go of an undisclosed number of staffers.
• Smart office startup Envoy laid off or furloughed 30% of its 195 workers.
• Event management service Eventbrite laid off half its workforce as events worldwide are canceled.
• Fashion startup Everlane laid off and furloughed 200 employees from its retail and backend departments.
• Boston-based corporate catering startup ezCater laid off over 400 of its 900 employees.
• Minneapolis-based food delivery service Foodsby laid off an undisclosed number of workers.
• In Silicon Alley, four startups—online mattress retailer Eight Sleep, technical recruiter Triplebyte, hospitality startup The Guild, and luxury sleeper-bus service Cabin—laid off about 75 people between them.
• Car rental startup GetAround let go of around 100 workers due to the impact of the coronavirus.
• Discount services and experiences platform Groupon will lay off or furlough around 2,800 employees.
• Iris Nova, a drink startup backed by Coca-Cola, let go of 50% of its staff.
• Trucking unicorn KeepTruckin let go of one-fifth of its employees.
• Office space leasing company Knotel cut half of its 400 employees.
• Komodo Health reportedly laid off 9% of its workforce.
• Cannabis startup Leafly dismissed 91 workers, following a round of layoffs from two months prior.
• Boston-based travel startup Lola laid off 34 employees, reportedly among the first full-time tech casualties of the coronavirus crisis.
• Mixed reality company Magic Leap reportedly laid off 1,000 employees.
• Interior design and e-commerce platform Modsy let go of an undisclosed number of employees.
• Homebuying startup Opendoor let 600 employees go, equaling about 35% of its workforce.
• Overtime, the Kevin Durant-backed sports media company, parted ways with 20% of its employees.
• HR tech company PerkSpot let 10 employees go.
• IT infrastructure company Pivot3 laid off an undisclosed number of workers.
• High end clothing rental service Rent The Runway laid off all retail employees across the country.
• Remote work and travel company Remote Year laid off about 50 employees.
• Oil, gas and alternative energy marketplace RigUp let go of 25% of its workforce.
• Petsitting platform Rover laid off 41% of its workers.
• Sales enablement company ShowPad laid off 52 employees.
• Apartment rental startup Sonder laid off or furloughed 400 employees, equaling roughly 30% of its workforce.
• Chicago parking startup SpotHero laid off an undisclosed number of employees.
• Artificial intelligence writing platform Textio laid off 30 workers.
• Tasking platform Thumbtack let go of 25o employees.
• Travel manager TripActions laid off 300 workers—about 25% of its staff—mostly across customer support, recruiting and sales.
• Uber laid off 3,700 workers while CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will forego taking a salary through the end of the year.
• Photo editing app makers VSCO let 45 employees go.
• Wonderschool, backed by Andreeson-Horowitz, let go of 75% of its staff.
• Yelp laid off or furloughed more than 2,000 workers—a 17% staff reduction.
• Online hiring marketplace ZipRecruiter laid off or indefinitely furloughed 400 of its approximately 1,200 full-time employees.
• AirBnb-backed business travel company Zeus Living cut 30% of its staff.

Sports & Fitness

• The NBA’s Utah Jazz laid off an undisclosed “small percentage” of its workforce.
• Maryland-based yoga chain CorePower Yoga let go of 193 workers across five studios.
• Golden Gate Parks racetrack in California laid off around 140 workers.
• The WWE, owned by billionaire Vince McMahon, cut at least 15 wrestling stars from its lineup.
• After canceling its comeback season in March, the XFL, also owned by Vince McMahon, suspended operations and laid off all of its employees.

Utilities

• Satellite TV provider Dish is laying off an undisclosed number of its 16,000 employees.

Elsewhere

• Boston’s Tea Party Ships & Museum, along with Old Town Trolley Cars, laid off an undisclosed number of employees.
• Central Ohio’s YMCA cut 85% of its workforce, consisting of over 1,400 part-time workers and 320 full-time workers.
• The Fitler Club, a dining, accommodations and co-working space in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dismissed nearly 240 workers.
• The Greater Philadelphia YMCA laid off 4,000 workers after its childcare and gym revenue dropped.
• In California, Lucky Chances Casino let go of nearly 490 workers, while California Grand Casino cut 190 positions.
• The National Rifle Association reportedly laid off 60 employees following the cancellation of its annual meeting.
• The Oneida Nation Native American tribe laid off or furloughed nearly 2,000 workers after revenue dropped at its casino.
• The mayor of Tombstone, Arizona, who runs a historic stagecoach tour business of the town, had to let go of 175 workers.
• Women’s co-working company The Wing laid off almost all of its space teams and half of its HQ staff.

What to watch for: If any U.S. airlines end up laying off workers. Delta Airlines said it would cut flights and freeze hiring. American Airlines is also cutting flights, and delaying trainings for new flight attendants and pilots. United Airlines said it might have to reduce its staff this fall if economic recovery proves to be slow.

What we don’t know: Exactly how many restaurant workers have been laid off due to the pandemic. New York City, a dining mecca, has about 27,000 eating and drinking establishments that were staffed by over 300,000 people. Restaurants are able to fulfill delivery and takeout orders, but can do so using skeleton crews.

Big number: 50%. That’s how many U.S. companies are considering layoffs, according to a survey released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the country’s oldest outplacement firm. The Federal Reserve of St. Louis estimated that 47 million jobs could be lost due to the coronavirus crisis. These numbers come on the heels of the 30 million American workers who filed for unemployment since the crisis began, according to data released Thursday, an all-time high.

Key background: There are now over 1.1 million reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. and over 70,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide cases now amount to over 3.6 million infected and 255,000 dead. President Trump signed a coronavirus relief bill into law that provides free testing and paid sick leave, along with a $2 trillion stimulus package and a subsequent $484 billion relief bill. At least 42 states have enacted stay-at-home orders that affect 316 million people or more. Cancelations of concerts, sports leagues, festivals, religious gatherings and other large events have impacted millions of people. President Trump enacted a 30 day travel ban from Europe that sent airlines and travelers scrambling to adjust, before declaring a national state of emergency. Some states, like Georgia, South Carolina, and North Dakota are beginning to ease restrictions, but most health experts agree that social distancing and business shutdowns continue to be necessary to reduce the virus’ spread. But the uncertainty over how and when the entire country—and its citizens—can resume normal life is a specter hanging over businesses, as they decide whether to cut workers.

Further reading:

Tracker: Media Layoffs, Furloughs And Pay Cuts Due To Coronavirus (Noah Kirsch)

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