Dodgers News: No furloughs for full-time employees

The Los Angeles Dodgers do not plan to institute furloughs in the wake of the ongoing Coronavirus shutdown.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been spreading lots of joy through Zoom calls since baseball went into hiatus. While most of that has been relegated to trying to keep fans engaged with the team, the latest round extended to the team’s full-time employees.

According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the team held a Zoom call with its full-time employees and informed the group that it will not be instituting furloughs. However, as the Dodgers and league continue to deal with the ongoing shutdown of games due to COVID-19, the team will institute tiered salary cuts instead, with those making more taking larger cuts.

The league has been shut down since early March, as the country tries to get a handle on the Coronavirus pandemic. States are starting to ease restrictions and the game appears to be negotiating a return. However, the current plans to return will likely be without fans in attendance. The Dodgers, being the second-highest valued team in the league, stand to lose $232 million if the season is played without fans, according to our previously published report.

Coupled with the loss of three months of the season, teams around the league are starting to make decisions as to how to save money. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were the first team to announce severe furloughs, with the scouting and player development teams taking the biggest cuts already. Likewise, the Oakland Athletics will begin furloughing some from those same departments upon completion of the June draft.

The good news for the Dodgers is that no one will be losing their jobs. The pay cuts will only impact those making over $75,000 per year, with some of those seeing as high as 35% according to Shelburne.

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As a team that is a leader in community service, this is a move that is consistent with how the team has approached the economic fallout from the virus.