Caesars Entertainment Sets up Employee Assistance Program

Apart from paying employees through June 30, 2020 and covering medical benefits, Caesars will now set up an assistance program funded by executives and offering assistance to the hardest hit employees.

Caesars Announces an Employees Assistance Program

Caesars Entertainment Corp. has announced a new COVID-19 relief program designed to assist furloughed employees. The employee assistance program is funded by donations from company executives and board of directors.

Caesars will task its independent board to evaluate the applications for assistance and distribute the sums accordingly. Caesars Entertainment CEO Tony Rodio acknowledged that some employees may be more vulnerable than others and in need of assistance.

Meanwhile, any donations made by Caesars Foundation will be directed towards COVID-19 relief efforts in communities where Caesars is present. The company is still paying employees their medical benefits through June 30 as well as offering to pay regular wages during the period. Rodio specifically said:

“Company support, in the forms of extended pay, paid time off and uninterrupted, company-paid medical benefits through the earlier of employees’ return to work and June 30, 2020 for employees enrolled in company-sponsored health plans, as well as government assistance, will be a financial bridge for most of our furloughed employees until they return to work.“

Some 90% of all Caesars employees have been furloughed out of a 60,000 workforce. Even though half of its employees are located in Nevada – one of the heaviest economically affected states – Caesars has vowed to continue supporting its employees.

In the meantime, NV Gov. Steve Sisolak has said that he is no hurry to re-open the gambling industry in the state or Las Vegas. The decision, Sisolak explained, would lie solely with medical experts.

Caesars Not the Only Casino Giant to Support Employees

At the beginning of April, Sheldon Adelson, a casino mogul who is better known as the owner of Las Vegas Sands, as well as his tireless efforts to suspend online gambling, announced that he would keep all 10,000 affected workers on the payroll and pay them as if “everything was still working.” Adelson confirmed that LVS would look into ways to help employees make up for loss tips.

Wynn Resorts, another established gaming giant, also spoke to CNBC, and explained why the company had chosen to retain the services of all 13,000 employees by keeping them on the payroll. While many businesses have been forced to lay off hundreds of thousand of workers, the United States’ largest gambling giants have fended for their own.

Not all have been as generous, with MGM Resorts paying employees for only two weeks and having since laid off many.