State program to help business owners avoid layoffs during pandemic
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MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OR (KPTV) — As part of a statewide freeze to stop the spread of the coronavirus, gyms in Oregon will once again have to close.
Multnomah County will have this freeze period extended for at least four weeks. Fulcrum Fitness held one of its last in-person outdoor workouts before the freeze goes into effect on Nov. 18.
The founder, David Leavy, said they changed their entire format to outdoors so that they could hold classes safely, but they still will have to move everything online.
“We have upgraded our entire operation to be outdoors at not just the gyms, but we also operate in six Portland parks. So these workouts have been up and running as a way to hedge against this issue, and we spent countless hours understanding how to do this safely,” Levy said.
He said it’s a challenging situation but understands why this freeze is necessary.
“It’s certainly frustrating and disappointing but also balanced by the understanding that there’s a need to do this,” he said.
Fortunately, this time around, he said he wouldn’t have to lay off any of his employees because of the Oregon Work Share program.
“It basically is a way to avoid doing full layoffs,” Levy said. “It allows you to reduce full payroll to 60 percent, and the state of Oregon will fill in, you know, the next 20 percent and get an employee paid 80 percent of what they were making previously.”
He said it’s the best option right now.
“Obviously, that’s not a pill that anyone wants to swallow,” he said. “And at this point, we’re in the position of getting people to get as much of their paycheck as they possibly can.”
He plans to make up for the cuts later on.
“We’ve even expressed to our client base, our member base, that the percentage of revenue that we take in from people who are willing to stick with us during this virtual session,” he explained. “The company is going to match that to buffer what we can to keep people as close to paid as possible through some series of bonuses at a later date,” Levy said.
He feels more confident this time around that his employees will get the benefits they need in a more timely manner from the Oregon Employment Department.
“I called, and they answered on the second the second ring, which was nice and surprising, and I expressed that and they said well we’ve made a lot of upgrades at the agency including a ton of staff,” he said.
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