Disney announces new furloughs for Disneyland employees as Anaheim resort remains closed

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- As Disneyland remains closed during the coronavirus pandemic, Disney on Monday announced new furloughs for executive, salaried and hourly employees of the resort in Anaheim.

It wasn't immediately clear how many Disneyland employees would be affected by the furloughs, but they will be able to maintain their health and insurance benefits, have access to paid time off and to state unemployment benefits, according to a letter from Disneyland President Ken Potrock.

"We expected to be able to open our parks in Anaheim, given our proven ability to operate with responsible health and safety protocols as we have in all of our other theme parks around the world, but unfortunately this has not been the case," Potrock said in a written statement.

The furloughs do not apply to Walt Disney World or any other Disney corporate entities. Those affected were starting to be notified on Monday.

Fans, employees and others rallied outside Disneyland Saturday morning in hopes of pressuring state officials into reopening the theme park, which has been closed since mid-March due to the pandemic.

Though the resort has been able to slowly reopen certain areas such as Downtown Disney, and plan for further expanded dining and shopping inside Disney California Adventure's Buena Vista Street, "recently released state guidelines put us in limbo regarding a reopening timeline in the foreseeable future," Potrock said in his letter.

"These decisions and actions are difficult - and we are committed to helping our teams through this and, most importantly, getting people back to work where we can," he added.

The announcement comes after Disney in September announced that it would lay off about 28,000 employees in its Parks, Experiences and Products division.

The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of this station.