Ottawa Senators Announce Temporary Staff Layoffs
The team has also announced support measures.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent stoppage of the NHL season, Eugene Melnyk and the Ottawa Senators have announced temporary staff reductions.
In a statement issued today, Capital Sports said that they would be commencing with off layoffs in order to financially cope with the unprecedented circumstances:
Included in the statement, however, is a pledge from owner Eugene Melnyk and the organization to support workers during this difficult time. This includes supplementing Employment Insurance benefits up to a minimum of 80 percent of base salary until July, and continuing health benefits. This also comes with the ongoing commitment from Melnyk to compensate part-time and hourly arena staff in both Ottawa and Belleville for lost hours through April.
While layoffs are never an ideal situation, the commitment from Melnyk and the Senators to support their staff during this period is good to see. There are still teams that have refused to pay laid-off employees, so the Senators continuing to have the backs of their staff members is a welcome sign to say the least.
Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the NHL paused operations due to the spread of COVID-19 throughout North America. At the time of writing this article, there are 226994 confirmed cases across the continent. 1846 people have died, and 10236 have recovered.