Specialized Bicycle Components laid off 63 employees on April 21, state filings show, as businesses across the country fight to stay alive during a pandemic-induced shutdown.
Rosewood CordeValle in San Martin, meanwhile, let go of 263 employees on March 17, the date Santa Clara County’s shelter-in-place order went into effect.
Companies that employ at least 75 workers are required by state law to give employees at least a 60-day notice of layoffs or closures under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The WARN notice must also be submitted to the state.
However, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s March 17 executive order suspended the 60-day notice temporarily due to Covid-19.
According to the WARN filings, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Great Clips laid off 27 workers each, while 13 employees at the Granada Theatre were affected.
These numbers, however, are an unknown percentage of the total amount of employees laid off because of the economic downturn, as employers with less than 75 workers do not have to file a notice.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) processed 615,809 unemployment benefit claims and paid $4.5 billion in benefits during the week ending on May 2. In total, since the week ending March 14, the EDD processed a total of 4.1 million claims for benefits and paid a total of $8.9 billion in benefit payments.
The state unemployment filings show that layoffs have plagued many of the South Valley’s largest employers. In Gilroy, at least 177 employees of various stores at the Premium Outlets were let go in early April.
The Gilroy Premium Outlets, which includes nearly 120 stores, has been closed since March 17.
PVH Corp, which operates outlets clothing stores such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, laid off 97 workers on April 6, which was classified as a temporary layoff according to the WARN filing.
Other temporary layoffs in the outlets included 32 at Carter’s Retail, 28 each at Clarks and Hennes & Mauritz, and eight at Lacoste.
Also in Gilroy, Black Bear Diner laid off 50 workers, and 41 employees were affected at Burlington Coat Factory. Knighted Ventures, which operates Garlic City Casino, laid off 42 employees, filings show.
Leal Vineyards, a wedding and entertainment venue in Hollister, let go of 64 employees in March. The Grove restaurant on Highway 156 also let go of 36 employees. Both sites are owned by Frank Leal, who is also the owner of the Granada Theater, Willow Heights Mansion and the Granada Hotel (under construction) in Morgan Hill.
