SeaWorld announces permanent layoffs
SeaWorld Entertainment revealed Friday that it will not bring back some of the thousands of workers it had furloughed earlier on amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that came just before 5 p.m., the Orlando-based company said it had “committed to a plan of termination, impacting some of the company’s furloughed employees.”
It did not specify how many workers were permanently let go or which parks were affected but said the company will spend
somewhere between $2.5 million and $3 million “related to employee severance costs.”
At the end of 2019, companywide there were nearly 11,000 part-time and 4,300 full-time employees.
“Substantially all of these employees were furloughed as part of the company’s efforts to reduce operating expenses and adjust cash flows in light of business circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,” the filing states. “Due to the sudden and unforeseeable economic impacts of the pandemic on the company’s business operations, that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the temporary furlough, the company has determined that it will transition certain park and corporate personnel from a furlough status to permanent layoff.”
Asked for specifics about the number of people laid off, SeaWorld would not say.
“While we were able to bring thousands of furloughed Ambassadors back to work and hoped to bring back everyone, the current environment requires us to set up the company for long-term success,” said SeaWorld spokeswoman Lori Cherry via email. “We are sorry to have to part ways with any team member in this difficult moment …”
SeaWorld’s part-time employees, which make up the majority of its workers, had been on unpaid furloughs since the park voluntarily closed March 16. SeaWorld, which is not unionized, later said about 95% of the entire company was furloughed at one point.
“It’s pathetic. They treat their animals better than their own employees,” said Jo DeGiovanni, a furloughed ride attendant, who has waited for months to get an update on her employment status from SeaWorld after the Orlando parks reopened in June.
As a part-time worker, she said she wouldn’t be eligible for severance.
They’re the latest round of layoffs for SeaWorld, which operates 12 parks across the country. In 2019, the company laid off an undisclosed number of workers, billed as an “efficiency” move, and eliminated 125 positions in 2018.
In October 2017, it cut 350 jobs, facing backlash for its live shows starring captive orcas that fueled attacks from animal rights activists. The company was the subject of the 2013 documentary film “Blackfish” that centered on the infamous orca Tilikum who lived at SeaWorld for 25 years and was involved in three human deaths.
It’s the latest wave of workers who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic in Florida, where unemployment was at 11.3% in July, representing 1.13 million out-ofwork residents. In the Orlando region, where tourism is the main economic driver, unemployment is the highest in the state, at 15.3%. At its worst in May, unemployment in the area surged to 22.6%.
For those who are able to navigate Florida’s glitchridden unemployment system, the laid-off SeaWorld workers will be able to collect at most $275 a week in state unemployment, among the lowest payouts in the country. Once the program rolls out, Floridians will also be able to collect an additional $300 a week — a trimmed-down portion of the $600 individuals had been collecting until the federal program ran out.
The layoffs come as SeaWorld has tried to shore up attendance at its parks and is dealing with severe budget shortfalls.
During a recent earnings call, the company divulged it lost $131 million during April, May and June while a majority of its theme parks were forced to close under local stay-at-home orders to curtail the spread of the virus. Total revenue was just $18 million, about $388 million less than the company made in the same three months in 2019.
The Orlando Sentinel also reported that SeaWorld Entertainment had fallen millions of dollars behind on construction bills at properties in Florida and California. In Orange County alone tax liens stacked up to about $16 million in unpaid bills.
In August, the company announced it would delay the opening of two of its new roller coasters, Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens in Tampa and Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando, that were scheduled to be unveiled this spring.
Since the Orlando park reopened on June 11 it has been operating at an estimated one-third capacity to comply with social-distancing guidelines. On reopening day, die-hard fans lined up outside the park two hours early, but from April to June, the company said only 300,000 people visited all of its parks, a drastic decline from the 6.2 million the parks drew during the same period last year.
To gain entrance, masks and temperature checks are required and guests have to reserve a spot ahead of time. SeaWorld Orlando recently offered free, unlimited admission to Florida teachers for the rest of the year and said it will not cancel its Halloween and Christmas events, its latest efforts to coax more people to visit.
Universal Orlando and Disney World also have struggled, with both operating at limited capacity.
Disney lost $2 billion during the months its theme parks were closed and has canceled its popular Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. For Universal, revenue plummeted 94% during the second quarter of 2020 and the park won’t be holding Halloween Horror Nights and has paused construction of its new park Epic Universe.
In the past two weeks, Universal also announced it would lay off or furlough more than 2,000 hotel workers, and the company previously laid off an undisclosed number of employees. At Disney, union leaders have said at least 10,000 employees have still not been called back to work.