Norfolk is laying off 57 workers who’d been furloughed during pandemic
NORFOLK — Before the pandemic, Lavonne Pledger was a full-time recreation specialist at the city-run Tarrallton Community Center earning almost $40,000 a year. Pledger, 34, said it was the best job he had ever had, and it gave him his best chance to buy a home and move out of public housing in Norfolk’s St. Paul’s area.
But on Monday, the city told him he, like more than 50 other fulltime employees, would be permanently out of work by the end of the year. Through the coronavirus pandemic, the city has been slashing spending on its libraries, parks and recreation centers.
“Honestly, it’s very tough,” said Pledger, who has been living off unemployment insurance. “It’s been extremely hard to find employment even relatively close to what I was making. Everything was part time or just not enough money.”
The city didn’t publicly announce the 57 layoffs and answered questions only after Pledger posted about them Monday afternoon on Facebook and The Virginian-Pilot asked to confirm what he shared.
Pledger lamented that “people who have been with parks and rec 10, 15, 20 years are now getting the boot” weeks before the Christmas holiday.
Mayor Kenny Alexander and City Councilwoman Angelia Williams Graves said they are urging City Manager Larry “Chip” Filer to help laid off employees get back on their feet.
Those laid off will get a one-time payout of unused leave as well as a severance payment before the Christmas and New Year holiday break, city spokeswoman Lori Crouch wrote in an email. The payouts range from $2,500 to more
than $20,000 depending upon each employee’s leave balance and length of service.
Their jobs will end Dec. 31. They will also get “first priority for any current vacancies if allowed by the budget or any new positions if they are qualified,” Crouch wrote. “This (is) a very difficult decision.”
The city had announced in March that it was furloughing 550 part-time employees — more than 10% of its workforce — and switching other workers’ schedules in response to continued requests from Gov. Ralph Northam for residents to stay at home through the pandemic.
In July, Crouch said, 78 full-time
employees across several departments were furloughed through Dec. 31. The 57 being laid off come from that pool of workers.
“COVID-19 has taken a toll on cities and states, families, businesses,” Alexander said. “The city of Norfolk is not immune.”
The virus has especially devastated Black low-income residents like Pledger, who intended to purchase a home this year. He has the savings and the credit, but without a job, he can’t get a loan for it.
“That was literally the only thing that deterred me,” Pledger said. “It’s very hard for me to process right now.”