Braves Become First MLB Team to Guarantee Employee Pay Through May
By Andrew Gullotta
Since the MLB suspended Spring Training and postponed the regular season back in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams have been met with hard decisions about taking care of their employees while the league is on pause. Layoffs and pay cuts have become a fact of life in all kinds of industries, and the sports world is no different.
There is legitimately good news out there, however. The Atlanta Braves have now set an encouraging precedent, reportedly assuring all full- and part-time employees that they will all be paid through the end of May. They're the first club known to have extended guarantees beyond early may, notes ESPN insider Kiley McDaniel.
Sources: the Atlanta Braves notified their full-time and part-time employees yesterday that they would be paid through May 31. They are the first known MLB club to give their employees assurances beyond the end of April or beginning of May.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) April 11, 2020
With the Braves stepping up to the plate in this way, the rest of the league ought to take note and pledge to take care of their people. Elsewhere in the NL East, the New York Mets have also stepped up their efforts in providing financial support to their employees, setting up a fund of $1.2 million to help part-time employees ride out the COVID-19 pandemic.
We need more and more of this.
We have established a $1.2M program to provide COVID-19 relief to ballpark employees. #Mets pic.twitter.com/gLVsHzyNpo
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 3, 2020
Even though the pandemic has brought about widespread hardship for people all over the world in all walks of life, it is great to see an increasing number of professional sports organizations step up and chip in to help their employees in need.