Feld Entertainment layoffs totaled 1,467, according to government report
Feld Entertainments layoffs announced in March were among the largest in the state to date.
Information posted to Florida’s WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) list this month shows 497 workers in Ellenton and 967 on traveling shows were let go.
WARNS, or the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, is a federal law that helps ensure advance notice in cases of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Ellenton-based Feld disbanded its traveling shows on March 13, citing prohibitions on public gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic. The layoffs were effective March 20.
“The speed and breadth of the pandemic’s spread, the resultant widespread government-mandated closures of public gatherings (banning our shows), and the related travel restrictions thereto were unforeseeable,” Kirk McCoy, Feld vice president of Human resources, wrote to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on April 9.
A copy of the letter was addressed to Manatee County Commission Chairwoman Betsy Benac.
Feld’s Stephen C. Yaros initially confirmed the layoffs to the Herald on March 20.
“Over the past few weeks the world has been racing to contain the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. This has resulted in unprecedented and widespread government-mandated closures of public gatherings that has forced us to shut down all Feld Entertainment tours. Although we hope to resume operations soon, there is no assurance of when that will happen. Therefore, we had to make difficult decisions to reduce the size of our workforce through company-wide layoffs,” Yaros said in an email.
At the time, Feld did not provide any information on the number of employees it was laying off.
Subsequently, several Feld employees approached the Herald to say they were not laid off; they were terminated.
Another Manatee County company, Dentsply Sirona, 7290 26th Court E., also shows up on the WARN list with 148 layoffs.
Dentsply, a dental device manufacturing and technology company, notified the state that it was having a mass furlough in a letter dated April 2.
Dentsply said the furloughs were due to unforeseeable circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closings of many dental offices. The furloughs are expected to be temporary, a company official said in the notification letter the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 5:22 PM.
