Disney has released a statement on the many jobs they had to let go amidst the pandemic. After laying off 28,000 workers, Josh D’Amaro, head of parks at Disney states to CNBC ,”As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude is not easy. For the last several months, our management team has worked tirelessly to avoid having to separate anyone from the company. We’ve cut expenses, suspended capital projects, furloughed our cast members while still paying benefits, and modified our operations to run as efficiently as possible, however, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while operating at such limited capacity.”

The Disney parks closed down in March, but the central parks in Florida reopened in May.  However, it seems that the parks in California don’t plan to reopen until the state of California gives them the go.

According to the company, the layoffs will hit the company’s Parks, Experiences and Products. This is due to the lack of attendance that’s happening in the parks, resulting in monetary loss, and slamming down on a mass lay-off of part-time workers and non-union hourly workers. So what does this mean for the 28,000 people who’ve just lost their jobs?

Chris Turnage, a man who has worked in management with Disney for eight years released a comment about being laid off. “It will affect us. My wife, thankfully, is still working, but obviously, there are bills to pay. We are down to one income.” This is just one out of many of the workers devastated by their loss of income.

67% of workers laid off will be part time, the rest is split into different departments. It seems as if Disney is going to have to work out the details of the workers they will keep, for example, where does this leave them with responsibilities? Do extra shifts need to be picked up or will hours actually be cut? Disney has yet to release a statement of confirmation of their current employees.

As for the workers who are laid off, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has promised to open the County’s Individual and Family Assistance Program in response to this massive lay-off.