Bay Area companies have resumed plans for wide-ranging job cuts as they are being confronted by a fresh round of business shutdowns imposed by state and local government agencies to combat the coronavirus, state documents show.
Several hotels — including a high-profile East Bay lodging — a casino, a staffing services firm, YMCA facilities, airlines, airport services firms, resorts, clubs, a shared-spaces firm, a building and food services firm, and a baseball team have revealed layoff plans, according to filings posted during November by the state Employment Development Department.
The staffing reductions totaled slightly more than 2,000 jobs, this news organization’s review of dozens of official notices that the EDD posted in November shows.
In some instances, the WARN notices reflected the decisions by companies to convert prior furloughs to permanent layoffs. In other cases, the notices reflected increased totals for a company’s previously reported job cuts.
State and local government agencies have once again intensified restrictions on business operations and social gatherings to battle the deadly bug.
But the government decisions appear to have badly jolted Bay Area companies and shoved them into a new spate of layoffs that could enfeeble an already frail regional economy that only last February was so robust that it was the envy of the nation.
The largest round of recently revealed layoffs linked to coronavirus woes is occurring at The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa in Oakland.
“An unanticipated and dramatic economic downturn beyond the company’s control resulted in the hotel’s closure as well as the continued lay off of a number of our employees,” Jose Zarate, an executive with Fairmont Hotels, the owner of the Claremont, wrote in a notice that the EDD posted on Nov. 12.
Government agency decisions also played into the plans to close the hotel resort and undertake the ongoing layoffs, the Claremont’s executives told the EDD.
“Federal, state, and local guidance regarding the slow and phased re-openings and potential further closures of communities and businesses” were among the factors behind the closure and layoffs, the Claremont resort said.
The job cuts were expected to continue over a six-month period that began in mid-September, the notice stated.
Among the other significant Bay Area job cuts linked to the economic fallout from the coronavirus that were posted by the EDD during November:
— Hotel Nikko, San Francisco, 211 jobs.
— Oakland YMCA, Oakland, 161 jobs.
— YMCA in Pleasant Hill (Irvin Deutscher Family), 137 jobs.
— Aramark, 128 layoffs, consisting of 66 job cuts in Milpitas and 62 reductions in San Jose.
— Robert Half International, San Ramon, 106 jobs.
— Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, San Francisco, 106 jobs.
— WeWork, San Francisco, 105 jobs.
— Hudson stores at San Jose International Airport, 70 jobs.
— Napa Valley Casino, American Canyon, 69 jobs.
— Hilltop Family YMCA, Richmond, 67 jobs.
— Athletics Investment Group (Oakland A’s affiliate), Oakland, 63 jobs.
— Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose, 34 jobs.
— Nobu Hotel, Palo Alto, 21 jobs.
— Blackhawk Country Club, Danville, 13 jobs.
— Oakland International Airport, Oakland, 8 positions.
— Southwest Airlines reported a combined total of 7 job cuts in Alameda County and San Jose.
Just prior to November, Hotel Nia in Menlo Park detailed plans for new job cuts that, when added to previously disclosed staffing reductions, were expected to produce permanent layoffs of 132 people.
“While we had hoped to recall many employees, the unforeseen change in occupancy expectation is causing the Hotel Nia to convert temporary layoffs to permanent layoffs,” Monica Escalante-Silva, director of Human Resources at Hotel Nia, told the EDD.
Economic woes have also jolted Hotel Valencia in San Jose, the company stated.
“Hotel Valencia has experienced financial difficulties due to COVID-19, which has resulted in lack of work in our hotel,” AnnJuletta Otis, an executive with the hotel, told the EDD. “We came to the decision to eliminate positions.
Staffing services giant Robert Half International told the EDD that layoffs were required at its San Ramon operation in the Bishop Ranch complex.
“Most of these current separations were previously reported as furloughs and the business has not recovered enough for us to return these employees to full-time status,” Kim Lampo, director of HR services at Robert Half, told the EDD in the WARN letter. The employment services firm blamed the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting economic slump for the cutbacks.
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