The pandemic has struck Hertz, the U.S. car rental company but it’s unknown how many of the 10,000 workers losing their jobs are in Oklahoma.
Hertz Global Holdings filed a WARN alert with the Oklahoma Workforce Development office explaining it plans to lay off the 10,000 workers across the U.S. where the company has an estimated 38,000 employees.
The company also issued a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating it would incur costs of $30 million related to the layoffs which actually started April 14 for nonunion workers and April 21 for union workers.
The company said the layoffs were necessary “as it looks to cut costs amid a downturn in business during the cornavirus pandemic,” according to an email alert reported by Bill Hancock, Business Services & Rapid Response Coordinator for Oklahoma.
Details such as where the layoffs will occur were not included in the announcement by Hertz.
Hertz has nearly 20 offices throughout Oklahoma including at the major airports, Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Wiley Post Airport, Tulsa International Airport, the Sundance Air Park, Norman’s Max Westheimer Airfield, Lawton Municipal Airport, Okmulgee Regional Airport and at the Pogue Airport in Sand Springs, not to mention several offices at other sites.
Earlier layoffs were announced by Hertz in 2016 in Oklahoma where it let go 80 workers and closed its Tulsa Service Center following completion of the company’s 2012 purchase of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc.
At the time of the 2016 layoffs in Tulsa, Hertz notified nearly 250 of its workers in Oklahoma City that their positions might be impacted as the company undertook a modernization of administrative activities in the call center. As of 2016, Hertz employed more than 2,000 people at the Oklahoma service centers and rental operations and planned at the time to add 200 customer care positions in Oklahoma City.
Source: WARN notice