Ft Worth Times

DALLAS – As businesses across the country are forced to tighten their belts in response to coronavirus-related economic conditions, major employers in the Metroplex including Six Flags, Cinemark, MoneyGram and Farmer Brothers are all facing major cuts in their Dallas-Fort Worth operations.

Six Flags has already extended the closure of its parks to mid-May and is attempting to offset the losses by slashing payroll at all levels. The company has cut executive compensation by 25%, and salaried employees will take the same cut to pay, according to The Dallas Morning News. Hourly Six Flags workers will see a 25% cut to their hours, but going down to 30 hours will not affect their health insurance coverage.

In a similar position is Cinemark. The movie theater company has no operations and therefore no income due to shelter-in-place orders. Cinemark has cut all U.S. employee pay by 50% and reduced working hours amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The board of directors and executives are expected to forego any pay for the duration of the crisis.

At MoneyGram International Inc., executives are also taking a pay cut. They, along with the board of directors and salaried employees, will lose 20% of their annual compensation. In addition, the company has applied for $23 million in credit to remain cash-solvent.

“With the use of technology, the company has been able to maintain continuity of its operations and has transitioned its workforce to work from home,” MoneyGram said in a regulatory filing.

However, the company also noted that, with many locations closed in the midst of stay-at-home orders, they aren’t really making much money at this time.

While Farmer Brothers is a distribution-based company, it is still getting hit by the economic downturn. The company has cut executive pay by 15% and approximately half of its workers have been furloughed. Additionally, all employer contributions to 401(k) retirement plans have been stopped. However, furloughed workers will still have health insurance coverage and can make use of earned vacation time to stretch out their pay.