Hurricanes place over half of full-time staff on furlough, implement plans to 'make staff whole'

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan columnist/reporter

The Carolina Hurricanes announced on Friday they would placing 55% of their full-time staff on furlough through June 7.

The NHL has been on pause since March 12 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The team and the PNC Arena staff were forced to shut down their offices on March 23 to ensure the team followed proper social distancing procedures.

On March 17, the team announced that it would compensate its part-time stafffor the home games it would miss in the month of March.

The team said that it would implement a set of procedures to ensure that full-time employees placed on furlough would not lose income. The furloughed staff will be able to “take full advantage” of the government’s stimulus package, per the release, and employees who aren’t eligible to collect their full salaries through unemployment insurance will be “provided a bonus by the organization upon the conclusion of the furlough period to be made whole.”

“The organization remains committed to taking care of our staff as well as possible given these unprecedented circumstances,” Hurricanes President and General Manager Don Waddell said in the release. “We’ve created a solution that protects our employees from financial hardship, while also mitigating the losses suffered by the company during this shutdown.”

The release also stated that the furloughed employees will continue to receive healthcare benefits during the furlough period, “and the company will assist employees by making their premium payments during that time.”