Casino operator MGM Resorts International informed its staff on Friday that it would lay off 18,000 furloughed employees in the U.S. as the coronavirus-induced travel curbs hurt its operations, Reuters reported. The company will start the process today, according to a letter from Chief Executive Officer Bill Hornbuckle to employees and seen by Reuters. MGM employed nearly 52,000 fulltime and 18,000 part-time people in the U.S. as of Dec. 31. “Federal law requires companies to provide a date of separation for furloughed employees who are not recalled within six months. Regrettably, August 31, marks (that) date,” Hornbuckle said in the letter. MGM was forced to close all of its casinos and furlough about 62,000 of its workforce in the United States in March due to the lockdowns. It brought back tens of thousands of employees when many of its casinos opened for business as the restrictions eased, but it still had to leave out 18,000 of them.
