GREENSBORO, N.C. — P.F. Chang's employees in North Carolina will see a serious reduction of hours soon.
According to an NC WARN report, a total of 525 workers will be temporarily out of work across the state, 150 of those will be in the Triad. Seventy-five will be from Guilford County, another 75 will be from Forsyth County.
We reached out to the restaurant chain and the company said the report was based on a matter of legal compliance and needed some context. They gave us the following statement:
"P.F. Chang’s is actually increasing its operation across the country as its takeout and delivery business continue to thrive and local and state restrictions are relaxed for dine-in operations. These WARN notices were provided to all company restaurant employees in order to comply with WARN requirements to notify employees if their hours were reduced by more than 50% for 6 months or more.
"Since the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in employees’ loss of hours that started last spring, there is a possibility that some individuals’ hours may have been reduced to that extent over a 6 month period and they have been notified of such a possibility. The company was over-inclusive in to whom the notices were sent to ensure any necessary compliance with the law.
"Many P.F. Chang’s locations are hiring new employees and increasing hour for current staff. If qualified and interested, please apply at pfchangs.com/careers."
To further clarify, we reached out to Chris Rivera the executive director of Guilford Works. Rivera said that regardless of their legal status with the company, these workers would likely be eligible for unemployment benefits.
"Based on the notice-PF will be furloughing individuals for an undetermined amount of time. This furloughing is due to COVID and the affected workers should be eligible for unemployment benefits-as those impacted have worked there for more than 6 months with more than 20 hours per week. This is impacting multiple restaurants around the state and I cannot tell from the letter if all 75 employees are from each restaurant, or if the 75 represents the collective impact.
"We received the notice today and our team, in concert with the state, will reach out to connect individuals to information related to benefits, employment and training services," Rivera said.