The lodge, Warren County’s largest hotel, temporarily furloughed more than 500 of its Mason hourly employees, according to a notice the state made public Tuesday.
“Due to the government issued community safety measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we extended the closure of our resorts and made the very difficult decision to furlough our front line pack members,” the company said in a statement Wednesday to the Dayton Daily News.
“Our pack members are invaluable to the Great Wolf Lodge experience, so we are doing all we can to assist them through this difficult period, including covering the employer and employee portions of health care premiums for all eligible pack members and extending those benefits until May 30,” the company dualso said.
“We also created preferential partnerships with companies such as Albertsons Companies, Ahold Delhaize, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, Meijer and others to offer employment opportunities for a significant portion of our employees at their stores and warehouses. We look forward to welcoming back our valued pack members and families as soon as we can.”
EARLIER:
Great Wolf Resorts will temporarily furlough nearly 800 employees total in Mason and Sandusky, the company just told Ohio government.
The move affects 512 hourly employees at Mason’s Great Wolf Lodge, the company said in a WARN letter made public by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Tuesday afternoon.
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That includes 301 part-time employees and 211 full-time employees who work at the company’s lodge just outside King’s Island in Mason, the company said.
Thirty-two salaried employees in Mason will see reduced salaries, the company also indicated.
Affected in Sandusky are an additional 277 hourly workers and 23 salaried employees.
“Effective April 2, 2020 through an anticipated reopening date of May 15, 2020, Great Wolf is placing all full-time hourly employees and all part-time hourly employees on unpaid furlough, and reducing the pay of all full-time exempt employees,” DJ Nichols, Great Wolf’s associate general counsel, said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act notice to the state.
“During this time, Great Wolf will continue paying health insurance premiums for its employees who had elected coverage under the Great Wolf health care plans,” Nichols added. “No severance payments are being made as part of this furlough.”
This temporary closure does not trigger WARN notice requirements under federal and state law, the letter added.
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