NEWS: Disney Parks Announces They Will Be Laying Off 28,000 Employees

Disneyland Resort continues to face an extended closure since March of this year.

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland ©Disney

Disney Executives and state officials have been publicly pushing for California Governor Gavin Newsom to release guidelines for theme parks to be able to reopen. Just today, we reported on a group of state legislators who wrote a letter to the Governor asking Newsom to implement the guidelines as well. With no guidelines given, the theme parks cannot reopen. 

Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks and Experiences, just issued a statement regarding the future of the domestic Disney Parks’ Cast Member employment status.

©Disney

He stated that Disney has “made the very difficult decision to begin the process of reducing our workforce at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment at all levels, having kept non-working Cast Members on furlough since April, while paying healthcare benefits. Approximately 28,000 domestic employees will be affected, of which about 67% are part-time.

In addition to this public statement, the letter below was issued by Josh D’Amaro to employees regarding this decision.

“I write this note to you today to share some difficult decisions that we have had to make regarding our Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products organization.

Let me start with my belief that the heart and soul of our business is and always will be people. Just like all of you, I love what I do. I also love being surrounded by people who think about their roles as more than jobs, but as opportunities to be a part of something special, something different, and something truly magical.  

Earlier this year, in response to the pandemic, we were forced to close our businesses around the world. Few of us could have imagined how significantly the pandemic would impact us — both at work and in our daily lives. We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived, and that we would recover quickly and return to normal. Seven months later, we find that has not been the case. And, as a result, today we are now forced to reduce the size of our team across executive, salaried, and hourly roles. 

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.  

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. 

Thank you for your dedication, patience and understanding during these difficult times. I know that these changes will be challenging. It will take time for all of us to process this information and its impact. We will be scheduling appointments with our affected salaried and non-union hourly employees over the next few days. Additionally, today we will begin the process of discussing next steps with unions. We encourage you to visit The Hub or the WDI Homepage for any support you may need.

For those who will be affected by this decision, I want to thank you for all that you have done for our company and our guests. While we don’t know when the pandemic will be behind us, we are confident in our resilience and hope to welcome back Cast Members and employees when we can.”

D’Amaro finished his statement by noting that “Cast Members have always been key to our success, playing a valued and important role in delivering a world-class experience, and we look forward to providing opportunities where we can for them to return.”

Cast Members

As stated above, the layoffs will impact executive, salaried, and hourly roles at the domestic Disney Parks, which include both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

Cinderella Castle

We will continue to update our readers as more information develops on this story.

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2 Replies to “NEWS: Disney Parks Announces They Will Be Laying Off 28,000 Employees”

  1. And still the top executives are back to the pre covid salaries, I believe sheesh, set an example at least. Hopefully this is just short term, we can’t like this forever