Church issues furloughs
Pasadena parish says it has ‘no income to pay the employees’
Pasadena parish defies archdiocese, but says it has no money for workers.
After Catholic schools and churches closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles urged parishes to continue paying their staff.
Those employees had accepted meager salaries for years, it said, and now wasn’t the time to abandon them.
“These people have responsibilities, have families. You’ve got to think of that,” Msgr. Albert Bahhuth, the vicar general for the archdiocese, said in a March 24 webinar. “If we lay them off, if we stop paying them, what’s going to happen to them?”
That didn’t stop St. Andrew Catholic Church and its school in Pasadena from going ahead with their furlough, without pay, of more than a dozen workers, a decision Father Marcos Gonzalez said was prompted because there was “no income to pay the employees.”
Workers, who spoke with the Los Angeles Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said they worried about being able to pay their bills and expressed disillusionment with the church.
“This was probably the last thing I saw coming,” one furloughed worker said. “At least being part of a Catholic church.”
The Archdiocese of L.A. said it is helping parishes and schools to continue to pay their employees and cover bills.
“The archdiocese continues to urge all our parishes and schools to find ways to make sure that staff are kept on and avoid any layoffs or furloughs,” spokeswoman Carolina Guevara said in an email. “That said the economic impact on our local church and the ability for our ministries to continue to serve our communities may be substantial as the crisis continues, requiring the archdiocese to continually reevaluate the situation, especially since many of our ministries rely on donations and the generosity of our faithful and people of goodwill.”
Across the state and country, there has been a surge of layoffs as employers grapple with the economic effects of the coronavirus.
But even as Catholic schools and churches closed their doors and moved services and classes online, the Archdiocese of L.A. said it was not at the point of needing to take such drastic actions.
“I would like to plead with you and beg you to please don’t lay off any employees at this time,” Bahhuth said in the webinar. “Don’t put them on furlough.”
Bahhuth, who sat beside Archbishop José H. Gomez in the video, said parishes could apply for a loan from the diocese to help with payroll. And, rather than eliminating workers’ income entirely, Bahhuth suggested reducing hours if needed.
Days after St. Andrew Catholic School closed March 13, church employees said, Gonzalez directed the principal to furlough nine workers.
At the parish, three fulltime and four part-time staffers were furloughed.
In an email to The Times, Gonzalez confirmed that most of the nonteaching personnel at the school had been furloughed and that everyone at the parish was furloughed, “except one parttime bookkeeper since the church and office are closed.”
“This was a very sad decision but required since we have no regular collections so there is no income to pay the employees,” he said.
The parish has not applied for a loan but may do so in the future, he said.
Church employees described struggling to find work and to explain the situation to their families, especially their children.
“It’s still draining to see that this was the first resort,” one furloughed worker said. “In the midst of a crisis, this is how you’re going to do the people who kept that school going? It’s heartbreaking.”
“I’m left here stressed trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do,” another worker said.
In a Facebook Live gathering March 25, the school’s principal, Raphael Domingo, acknowledged to parents that school aides had been furloughed and that they were in the process of trying to get them back.
“We have a financial obligation to our employees and to our staff, and I take that obligation very seriously,” he said. In the video, he said the school was “doing well in terms of our cash flow.”
Domingo said he anticipated that the furloughed workers would return once school reopened, potentially on April 20. But that return date is uncertain after President Trump announced that federal social-distancing guidelines meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus would be extended to April 30.
It is unclear how many church employees in the Archdiocese of L.A. have been furloughed.
In the webinar, Bahhuth addressed questions about some who “might have already jumped the gun and put their staff on furlough.”
“You can bring them back,” he said.