COVID-19’s Impacts on BGW

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I am heartbroken for SEAS and the countless wonderful employees at BGW and all of the SEAS parks. This is an extraordinarily difficult time in the entire theme park industry. I don't want to discount the impact this has on the 90% of the affected employees, however, the optimistic side of this difficult decision is that it relieves SEAS of a lot of costs temporarily so that they can REOPEN again. I firmly believe that the parks will reopen again, albeit operations may look a bit different than other seasons.

In the meantime, I am keeping the impacted employees that make these parks so special in my thoughts and prayers. I hope that they all can find other temporary work or unemployment benefits during this difficult time ahead.
 
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GrandpaD said:
I doubt things will last longer than 4 months. So (except for the loss of medical) the Coronavirus Act will pay them - "...offering $600 per week for four months for laid-off workers, on top of whatever benefits their states may provide.”
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True but the loss of medical is going to hit hard. Cobra is there but those cost are unbelievable. When I was laid off two years ago my Cobra cost was almost 700 s month so there is one whole week of those added benefits hone right away.
 
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GrandpaD said:
I doubt things will last longer than 4 months. So (except for the loss of medical) the Coronavirus Act will pay them - "...offering $600 per week for four months for laid-off workers, on top of whatever benefits their states may provide.”
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There’s quite a few companies that laid off massive numbers today. I think many were looking for this bill to pass and employees being guaranteed to make close to what they would get anyways.
 
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You're right @horsesboy ... but hopefully they look into the Affordable Care Act as an alternative.

"If you have just left your job for any reason and lost your job-based health coverage, you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. This means you can enroll in a Marketplace insurance plan any time of year. You usually have 60 days from the day you lose your coverage to enroll."

I had coverage thru "Obamacare" for a number of years and premiums weren't too bad (Please don't start an argument about ACA...I'm just pointing out an option).
 
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warfelg said:
There’s quite a few companies that laid off massive numbers today. I think many were looking for this bill to pass and employees being guaranteed to make close to what they would get anyways.
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This bill just isn't that favorable for SEAS or others in the industry. There's a 50% tax credit on wages for keeping employees aboard during the downturn, but that's only useful if they feel the park would open soon. For a retailer or restaurant group, keeping employees staffed with that credit can make sense with reduced revenue, but SEAS revenue right now is close to zero, so there's no way to make that work financially in the medium or long term.

This decision indicates to me that SEAS doesn't believe they will be able to safely open the park for awhile, even once the peak cases subside. Letting go of your workforce en masse means they have to be re-hired, augmented, and re-trained or newly trained. I'm assuming that's a multi-week or even multi-month process.
 
rswashdc said:
This bill just isn't that favorable for SEAS or others in the industry. There's a 50% tax credit on wages for keeping employees aboard during the downturn, but that's only useful if they feel the park would open soon. For a retailer or restaurant group, keeping employees staffed with that credit can make sense with reduced revenue, but SEAS revenue right now is close to zero, so there's no way to make that work financially in the medium or long term.

This decision indicates to me that SEAS doesn't believe they will be able to safely open the park for awhile, even once the peak cases subside. Letting go of your workforce en masse means they have to be re-hired, augmented, and re-trained or newly trained. I'm assuming that's a multi-week or even multi-month process.
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Technically they shouldn't have to rehire or go through the all the steps that would accompany a new hire. For most of them it will probably be a day of paper work when they get back
 
Honestly I see a lot of budget cuts on the horizon and with that we could sadly see a certain heavily themed intiman water ride be closed.
 
BGWnut said:
Technically they shouldn't have to rehire or go through the all the steps that would accompany a new hire. For most of them it will probably be a day of paper work when they get back
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For furloughed employees that return, yes that would be fairly simple. However, they have to re-hire the part of the workforce that doesn't come back, and if this goes on for months or more, expect that to be a sizeable percentage. As soon as you furlough employees they're out looking for new jobs (mandatory for collecting unemployment in VA), and if they find something more stable they aren't coming back.
 
The longer BGW (and other parks) are closed, the longer it'll take for them to gear up to opening. That includes training/retraining employees (especially new hires that were just going to start 3/15), getting the physical place up to speed, food deliveries, etc.
 
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rswashdc said:
For furloughed employees that return, yes that would be fairly simple. However, they have to re-hire the part of the workforce that doesn't come back, and if this goes on for months or more, expect that to be a sizeable percentage. As soon as you furlough employees they're out looking for new jobs (mandatory for collecting unemployment in VA), and if they find something more stable they aren't coming back.
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If I'm not mistaken they have waived the requirement to be looking for employment right now in VA.
 
Curious - how many of their spring seasonal employees are retired and doing the job for supplemental income/fun/something to do to get out if the house?

If it's a high enough percentage, then they can certainly make back up at least a skeleton crew for summer session as long the retirees are willing to come back. My guess is they're less likely to want to work elsewhere...
 
Not sure I understand the part with EZ Pay where it says "After your commitment is met". With a monthly fee you never meet a commitment. You continue to pay 12 months out of the year. It just rolls over to the next year. It's never paid for or a commitment being met. It is a monthly subscription type of thing. I have been billed for March already so they haven't stopped billing anything. I don't care if they do keep billing but they keep sending out confusing information. I assume with everything shutting down and the layoffs there will be very little (if any) information coming out for the foreseeable future.

Also, I may have missed it but has anything been officially stated on how the dining plan will work? It is attached to the pass and is also a 12 month payment. Heck, I could have used it enough to pay for it by Memorial Day. Now, we'll be lucky if they are open by Memorial Day.
 
Rothbury said:
Not sure I understand the part with EZ Pay where it says "After your commitment is met". With a monthly fee you never meet a commitment. You continue to pay 12 months out of the year. It just rolls over to the next year. It's never paid for or a commitment being met. It is a monthly subscription type of thing. I have been billed for March already so they haven't stopped billing anything. I don't care if they do keep billing but they keep sending out confusing information. I assume with everything shutting down and the layoffs there will be very little (if any) information coming out for the foreseeable future.

Also, I may have missed it but has anything been officially stated on how the dining plan will work? It is attached to the pass and is also a 12 month payment. Heck, I could have used it enough to pay for it by Memorial Day. Now, we'll be lucky if they are open by Memorial Day.
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It's a 12 month MINIMUM commitment when purchasing an annual pass. After paying 12 months, you've met the minimum commitment and can cancel any time after that.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong
 
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Thanks, Pink. That makes sense. I've had a pass since BGW opened and a membership since that program started. I guess I've met my commitment. ?
 
But that doesn't explain what those of us who have met it and are still being actively billed get. Personally if they would simply throw out something like we are looking at possible options for what we can do for you guys when we open i would be happy but they seem to want to just ignore us at the moment.
 
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