APRIL 16, 2020: The City of Staunton is announcing a personnel action involving the involuntary termination of 64 part time employees as a result of the operational disruptions and substantial revenue reductions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The disruptions and loss of revenue have necessitated, in the current fiscal year, a hiring freeze, a freeze of non-essential operating and capital improvement expenditures, and the suspension and/or reduction of certain city programs and services. Since mid-March, the city has made every reasonable effort to compensate its workforce regardless of each employee’s ability to perform their duties either at their assigned workplace or by telecommuting.
“Unfortunately, given the unknown duration of the current public health emergency and disaster, we have decided to terminate employment of a number of part-time employees who are unable to work due to the suspension and/or reduction of city programs and services,” said City Manager Steve Rosenberg in announcing the action. “We arrived at this very difficult decision only after implementing all other reasonable alternatives and following a comprehensive review of position duties, and programs and services that are currently suspended and/or reduced.”
The separation date for affected employees will be April 24, 2020, with their last payroll checks to be processed on May 8, 2020. This involuntary termination of employment will allow affected employees access to unemployment benefits, and the city is providing information from the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) directly to each affected employee.
Rosenberg stresses that no positions are being eliminated. “When the city moves forward into a recovery phase, and as we decide to restore programs and services, we will advertise and fill vacant positions. Affected employees will be encouraged to reapply for any position vacancy for which they are qualified,” he said.
City Council and Staunton staff will continue to rework the FY2021 budget to address the impact of the pandemic on the budget through a series of work sessions in April and early May. A full schedule of meeting dates and times are available on the city’s COVID-19 website www.staunton.va.us/COVID-19, and the public is strongly encouraged to stay informed and engaged as critical decisions are being made about the community’s future.
City officials will be in a budget work session from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.; please email any requests for follow up to Morgan Smith at smithmc@ci.staunton.va.us and we will provide a response to you as promptly as possible.
