The Borgata Responds with Personnel Changes to New Constraints
Atlantic City's largest casino, The Borgata, sent a letter Friday afternoon to some of its staff members, telling them that they would either be laid off or face a cut in working hours. The cuts are made by the casino, in reaction to Gov. Phil Murphy's new limits on indoor dining.
New Restrictions Triggers More Lay-Offs
The workplace change conducted by the Borgata affects 422 casino employees, but it wasn't immediately clear how many of them lost their jobs and how many were left with shortened working hours. The laid-off staff will continue until the end of the year on the health care package for the casino.
The casino reaction was highlighted by Melonie Johnson, president of the Borgata, due to the tight limits that came into place on Thursday night and banned indoor dining from 10pm to 5am.
“Regrettably, due to the adjusted operations and overall impact of the pandemic on business, we’ve been forced to modify our staffing levels.”
Melonie Johnson, President, The Borgata
Gov. Phil Murphy's order arrived in response to the rising number of new reported cases of coronavirus in the state and around the country, which affected indoor eating, which, according to officials from the Health Department, is more likely to transmit the virus than outdoor dining.
Only The Borgata Responded To The Constraints
The order requires casinos to close their restaurants at 10pm each night, as well as avoid selling drinks on the casino floor, and the Borgata is not the only one affected, but it is the only one so far to pursue personnel changes in response, outlined Bob McDevitt, chairman of the local Atlantic City casino workers union.
Melonie Johnson shared the intention of the casino in her letter to the affected employees to return jobs to the payroll and expand working hours as soon as the governor's executive order is lifted and company interest returns. Unfortunately, the casino had no knowledge on what it would be and could not determine the permanent effect on the company from the restrictive measure, the president of Borgata concluded.
The new change to workforce numbers at The Borgata applied to the casino's nearly 2,300 laid-off employees effective August 31. Similarly, a letter sent by MGM President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle to the workers concerned told them of the company's urgent need to enact operational improvements, but promised to return most of them, if not all, as soon as business returned to normal.
