BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Delaware North laid off 517 full-time positions on Tuesday as COVID-19 continues to hammer the hospitality management and food service industry across the globe.
"Losing valued employees is never easy, but it was important to us to pay out a severance to these associates," said Glen White, Delaware North's Director of Communications.
The Buffalo-based company, which has operations globally, says it was clear that the impacted roles "would not return in the foreseeable future," which led to the layoffs.
Among the layoffs include 139 Western New Yorkers. They had been working in the Delaware North headquarters, the Amherst Call Center, Niagara Falls State Park, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo Bills Stadium and Hamburg Gaming.
This latest round of layoffs comes two months after the company laid off around 100 employees due to the pandemic's impact on global economic conditions.
The company now has more than more employees on leave than it does active staff, with 4,400 active full-time employees and 6,850 employees on leave.
"Our ability to recall our employees from temporary leave has been frustratingly slow given the delays in operating location openings and the reduced capacity and demand experienced in those locations," said White.
