Name: Dallas Stars furlough 20 percent of staff for 60 days
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Dallas Stars furlough 20 percent of staff for 60 days

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Apr 30, 2020The announced cost-cutting measures in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday afternoon in a call with local reporters.Twenty percent of the Stars’ office staff will be furloughed starting May 3 and running through July 4 according to team president Brad Alberts. The furloughed employees will still have health insurance during the 60-day period, and the Stars have committed to paying the insurance premiums. Alberts said the Stars have also made sure those employees will be eligible for government unemployment benefits.“These people didn’t do anything wrong. We aren’t unhappy with any of them,” Alberts said. “It’s a terrible day for all of us to do this to these people. They are trusted members of our organization. We’ve just got to manage the business in the short term, and hopefully, we can get through this.”The furloughs come from all departments under the Stars umbrella, including the AHL-affiliated Texas Stars in Cedar Park and the local rinks run by the team. The furloughs were based on tenure with the company, according to Alberts.“Every area throughout our group had some number attributed to that 20 percent,” Alberts said. “It was basically just tenure and some jobs — because we aren’t playing, there really isn’t a job. That’s what made up the list.”The hockey operations department is not impacted by the furloughs at this time. Hockey operations employees are primarily contracted employees.Alberts said the hope is that this would be the only measure needed.“The duration and the severity of this will dictate it,” Alberts said. “Right now, as you guys know, the league is trying to figure out scenarios to return to play some capacity this summer. That’s really what we are focused on because regardless of the scenarios, we know our team will be participating. So really that’s what our group is focused on right now. If that for whatever reason can’t happen, that will engage another phase and then we’ll begin to look at what does 20-21 (season) look like.”Alberts said he wouldn’t get into hypotheticals about the 2020-21 season and reiterated that the Stars hope that the 19-20 season can be completed in some fashion.Alberts also announced that in March, all of the Stars’ executives took a 20-percent cut in salary around the same time that Stars CEO Jim Lites and general manager Jim Nill announced they were taking 50-percent cuts in pay.Stars owner Tom Gaglardi is heavily invested in the hotel and restaurant business. Those industries have been rocked by the global stoppage.“It’s a combination of everything,” Alberts said. “In our industry, in sports, you’ve seen other teams are doing this both in hockey and not in hockey. Some have, some haven’t. Certainly, everybody is discussing it and making their own decisions based on their own situations. We have to be respectful to ownership here as well. They are in a very hard-hit business, which is hotels and restaurants. We are sensitive to that in this situation.”The Stars are the first team from the “big four” sports in DFW to announce such measures. FC Dallas has already announced pay cuts to staff.Some other NHL teams have also taken similar measures, including the defending champion St. Louis Blues, who have temporary furloughs starting on May 3.Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Apr 30, 2020The announced cost-cutting measures in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday afternoon in a call with local reporters.Twenty percent of the Stars’ office staff will be furloughed starting May 3 and running through July 4 according to team president Brad Alberts. The furloughed employees will still have health insurance during the 60-day period, and the Stars have committed to paying the insurance premiums. Alberts said the Stars have also made sure those employees will be eligible for government unemployment benefits.“These people didn’t do anything wrong. We...

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Sean Shapiro

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Dallas Stars furlough 20 percent of staff for 60 days

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