Hyatt Regency hotel at 1800 East Putnam Ave will lay off 150 furloughed workers effective June 30.
The CT Dept of Labor website published a June 11 letter from general manger Sherry Hicks-Buckles to Greenwich First Selectman and the Dept of Labor saying the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted the hotel “immensely.”
Ms Hicks-Buckles said the hotel had initiated what they hoped would be temporary furloughs beginning on March 22, 2020.
“While there are encouraging signs that our economy can begin to reopen in some areas, it has now become clear that the demand for travel, events, and hospitality services will take substantially longer to resume than previously anticipated,” she wrote, adding, “With such a significant reduction in our business in a rapidly evolving situation, we have to make painful choices that would have seemed unthinkable just a short time ago.”
Hicks-Buckles said the hotel now plans for extended layoffs that may exceed six months, though their hope remains that some or all the layoffs might last less than six months. Still, she said the hotel must prepare for longer-term employment losses.
Not all employees at the hotel will be impacted as the hotel is only partially closed.
“The affected employees at the Hotel are not represented by any union and do not have any bumping rights,” she added. “We regret that we were not able to provide advance notice of this action.”
The layoffs span more than 50 job categories, mostly reducing staff by one or two people in a category, but also include 26 room attendants (cleaners); 10 restaurant servers; 10 events servers; and 7 food and beverage runners.
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