JCC announces staff furloughs, reduced hours
COVID-19Eligible employees will keep health insurance through June

JCC announces staff furloughs, reduced hours

Closure of facilities three weeks ago has dramatically affected revenue

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh has furloughed some of its full- and part-time employees, and has reduced the hours of others, a consequence of the “unprecedented financial challenges” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release.

The JCC’s facilities, including its buildings in Squirrel Hill and the South Hills, have been closed for weeks due to health mandates intended to reduce the spread of the virus.

“Roughly 80% of our agency’s revenue comes through membership and program fees,” said JCC President and CEO Brian Schreiber in a prepared statement. “While hundreds of donations have come our way over the past three weeks of mandated closure, even the generosity of this support cannot match the dramatic and sudden downturn in revenue we face with the suspension of our services and closure of our facilities.”

The majority of the JCC’s 135 full-time employees will keep their jobs, but many will be scheduled for reduced hours. Compensation for senior management staff will be reduced.

Benefit eligible employees, including those furloughed, will continue to receive health care coverage through June 30th.

“In the midst of a public health crisis, we want to ensure that our employees who have signed up for health care can continue to access it with certainty,” Schreiber said.

The JCC’s approximately 350 part-time hourly employees will not be scheduled to work while facilities are closed.

Like many other local Jewish institutions, the JCC has moved some of its programming to on-line content, which can be accessed through the JCCPGH Virtual website. The 10.27 Healing Partnership, located within the JCC’s Squirrel Hill building, has also moved its services on-line.

“The JCC remains committed to serving our community through the good and the bad, as we have done for the past 125 years,” Schreiber said. “We have come back from difficult times before. We are confident that with the community’s support and patience we will thrive again and will be in the position to welcome back our dedicated employees who we have always considered to be our family.” PJC

Toby Tabachnick

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