Disney will lay off 28,000 theme park employees after months of coronavirus furloughs

Disney has realized its parks won't be back at full capacity anytime soon.

Disney furloughed and stopped paying more than 100,000 of its parks employees in April, about a month into the coronavirus pandemic. And on Tuesday, Disney's head of parks, experiences, and products Josh D'Amaro announced about 28,000 of those furloughs will become permanent layoffs. Employees at all levels of D'Amaro's department will be affected, though 67 percent of those laid off are part-time employees.

After the April furlough, an agreement with a union led the company to continue paying health care for furloughed workers. D'Amaro said in his statement the company was currently talking with unions and union-represented employees about the layoffs. He also blamed California's coronavirus restrictions for keeping Disneyland closed, failing to mention that California and Florida — the home of Disney's American parks — are still among the hardest-hit states by coronavirus.

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The COVID-19 pandemic hit every aspect of Disney's business hard, though it still brought in a lower-than-expected $11.87 billion in revenue in 2020's second financial quarter. Its theme park division alone saw a $3.5 billion revenue drop; it usually accounts for 37 percent of the company's total revenue.