Caesars furloughing about 90% of US workers

Furloughs at Caesars Entertainment Corp. are expected to impact roughly 90 percent of its employees at its domestic-owned properties, as well as corporate staff, according to a Thursday news release.

That accounts for “tens of thousands” of employees, according to spokesman Richard Broome.

The furloughs come amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has prompted all U.S. commercial casinos to temporarily shut their doors as of last week, according to the American Gaming Association.

“Given the uncertain duration of the property closures throughout the network, Caesars is temporarily moving to the minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations,” the statement said.

Caesars’s latest annual report, filed Feb. 25, said it had approximately 64,000 employees at that time but doesn’t specify how many of those work at domestic-owned properties.

The Las Vegas-based company owns seven properties in Las Vegas, according to the report: Bally’s, The Cromwell, Flamingo, The Linq Hotel and the Linq Promenade, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood. Caesars Palace, Harrah’s and Rio are leased.

It also owns, operates and manages 29 properties in other cities across the country, according to the report. Five of those are domestic-owned: Harrah’s Atlantic City, Harrah’s Laughlin, Harrah’s New Orleans, Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand.

Those furloughed will remain employees of the company throughout the furlough period, according to the Thursday statement. Caesars is paying furloughed employees for the first two weeks of closures, and employees can use their available paid time off after that. In Nevada, most workers’ pay will run through Friday, Broome said.

The company is also paying all health insurance premiums for those enrolled in the company’s health benefit plans through June 30 or their return to work, whichever comes sooner.

“Given the closure of our properties, we are taking difficult but necessary steps to protect the company’s financial position and its ability to recover when circumstances allow us to reopen and begin welcoming our guests and employees back to our properties,” said CEO Tony Rodio in the statement. “The Company entered this crisis with strong operating performance, which, combined with the steps we are taking now, are critical to the future of our company.”

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.