GERMANTOWN, Tennessee —
NEWS RELEASE FROM CITY OF GERMANTOWN
Germantown Makes Difficult Decision to Temporarily Lay Off Part Time Employees
In the latest of a series of tough decisions made necessary by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, the City of Germantown has announced that all employees serving in part time positions would be temporarily laid off as of Sunday, March 29.
The majority of the positions include staff from Germantown Athletic Club and Parks and Recreation’s before and after school care program. Both were temporarily closed on March 16 along with Germantown Performing Arts Center, the Germantown Community Library and The Great Hall and Conference Center.
A total of 209 part time employees are affected by this decision. Of those, 189 were employed at the Athletic Club or the Parks and Recreation Department.
Part time employees received full pay from March 16 to 29, despite not being able to report to work.
“This has been one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in my 31 years as Germantown’s city administrator,” said Patrick Lawton. “We value our employees and we understand that they are the ones who make Germantown a great place to live but we also have to balance our fiscal responsibility to our taxpayers. That being said, this is likely the first of many very difficult personnel decisions that we will have to make in the coming weeks,” Lawton added.
The layoffs come as the City’s budget and performance staff are projecting a significant reduction in revenues for fiscal year 2020, mostly in the form of lost state shared revenues and sales tax.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also expected to significantly impact the fiscal year 2021 budget currently being developed. City Hall has been closed to the public and mostly empty since Thursday, March 19. A large majority of employees are working from home with help from the City’s Information Technology department. Even the City’s customer service center is operating remotely. Only administration, public works, general services, finance, court, and fire and police employees continue to operate out of City facilities.
