Club furloughs nearly half of staff, cuts pay due to business slowdown caused by pandemic

The National Press Club furloughed 45 percent of its staff Thursday and reduced the salaries for those remaining on the job in response to declining levels of business due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Club board on Monday authorized Executive Director Bill McCarren to carry out a plan to furlough up to 50 of the Club’s 113 regular staff members. The professional staff who retained their positions took a 15 percent pay cut.  McCarren informed staff about the plan on Thursday.

“The financial reality of the coronavirus crisis, which has already affected many news organizations and other businesses across the country, has finally hit home for the National Press Club,” President Michael Freedman said in a statement. “And there is no way to downplay the actions now necessary, including temporary furloughs and salary reductions, in order to maintain our financial stability.”

Freedman’s full statement is available online.

The Club is facing a challenge unlike any it’s ever seen, Freedman said.

“While there have been short term furloughs imposed in the past, nothing of this magnitude has been necessary in the 113-year history of the National Press Club,” Freedman said. “In taking this difficult action, the Board of Governors offers our heartfelt appreciation to all our employees for their dedicated and substantial service. And we look forward to the day we can welcome them back.”

Furloughed staff will be eligible for unemployment benefits, the continuation of health care benefits during furlough and an opportunity to be recalled if business rebounds. If the Club had imposed layoffs, staff would have lost benefits and had little prospect of being called back.

The moves align payroll costs with the current and anticipated levels of business during the COVID-19 outbreak and the ensuing economic recovery. They follow 15 weeks in which the Club maintained its full staff at full pay thanks in part to a CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program loan, which is concluding later this month.

The Club suspended in-person activities on March 16. It reopened the clubhouse doors on June 9 for limited services after Washington, D.C., began Phase I of easing social-distancing restrictions. The Club likely will restore additional services with expanded capacity as the local government further loosens social-distancing rules.

But a return to Club operations at their pre-pandemic level is not likely for many months, which necessitated the board’s action.