Archdiocese of New Orleans Will Lay off 19 Workers in the Fall, State Notice Says

By Ramon Antonio Vargas
Times Picayune and New Orleans Advocate
July 22, 2020

https://www.nola.com/news/article_47d1561a-cc40-11ea-ad5b-a3bfa27e9845.html

The Archdiocese of New Orleans plans to lay off 19 employees in the fall, a move it says is necessary to deal with financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this year.

Employees are set to lose their jobs on Sept. 15, according to a notice filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, though an archdiocesan spokeswoman said Tuesday some layoffs won't take effect until October.

Affected workers range from clerical staff to an executive director, and they include some employees who were recently furloughed because of the economic downturn.

In its most recent financial report, the archdiocese reported a staff of 205. That means the layoffs represent just under 10% of the current workforce.

While Archbishop Gregory Aymond oversees Catholic churches and schools in an eight-parish region, the archdiocese itself is chiefly an administrative office that supports the leaders of those institutions while also running a number of different programs and ministries.

On May 1, the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections, claiming its finances had been severely affected by the pandemic and the cost of litigating dozens of clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

At least nine Catholic schools received $5.5 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program to help pay salaries and other expenses on their campuses. Catholic Charities, which is affiliated with the archdiocese but incorporated separately, received between $2 million and $5 million more.

The archdiocese, however, said its administrative office did not receive any federal coronavirus aid.

Word of the layoffs became public when a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification was posted on the state Workforce Commission’s website Monday. The notice is dated July 15 and said affected employees had been notified.

Federal law requires all but the smallest companies to give employees and state officials 60 days notice in advance of closures or numerous layoffs.

Editor's note: This post was updated to include information from a statement issued by the archdiocese.