On Nov. 20, the theme park filed a notice with the state confirming that 1,123 employees have been or will be terminated by Dec. 31. None of these layoffs will include hourly employees but will be salaried workers, as reported by News 13.
In the filing, the theme park (obviously) blamed these firings on the body blows the tourism industry has suffered from the worsening COVID-19 pandemic in Florida.
These are not the first layoffs for Universal. The company has undertaken several rounds of layoffs during the pandemic, but has not publicly disclosed those numbers, according to the Orlando Sentinel. And in September, the resort extended the furlough of 5,389 employees.
Alongside Disney’s announcement of 4,000 additional company-wide layoffs — adding to a previously announced 18,000 at Walt Disney World alone — this is cutting deep into the economy of Central Florida, and dashing hopes of a quick recovery post-pandemic.
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This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2020.