Starbucks Announces Plan To Continue Catastrophe Pay To Employees Until May 3 

• Starbucks confirmed its continued closure of lobbies until at least May 3 and remains to operate in a “to go” mode.
• With these, they announced that the temporary benefits, including catastrophe pay and service pay, will continue to be provided to their employees until the beginning of the said month.
• The company’s executive vice president and president, Rossann Williams, expressed in a letter her “deepest gratitude and appreciation” to all of the company’s partners.

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Starbucks announced its plan to extend short-term benefits to their employees from its originally planned expiration of April 19 to May 3. These temporary benefits include catastrophe pay for those who are unable to or choose not to go to work during the coronavirus outbreaks.

“As we continue to navigate COVID-19 together, I want to first take a moment to share my deepest gratitude and appreciation for all of you,”  the company’s executive vice president and president, Rossann Williams, says in a letter. “You’ve led through an unbelievable amount of change these last few weeks and have come together in deeply human ways to support each other and our communities, including our brave front-line responders and health care workers.”

Williams also detailed the plan of the company to continue the benefits through the start of May in order to take care of their “partners” and protect their health. 

Employees who are sick, need to take care of their family members, or simply prefer to stay at home amid the virus scare, are all eligible to avail the catastrophe pay. While others who choose to go to work still, they will be given Service Pay—a $3 per hour on top of their base salary.

“We will continue other temporarily expanded benefits for partners, whether they are working a shift or not, like childcare support through Care@Work and our expanded Food/Beverage Benefit and discounts,” Williams said. 

Meanwhile, the company’s other resources like mental health services and the CUP Fund—the company’s financial resource system which partners can lean on “when facing an unexpected financial hardship”—would still be available.

The coffee chain also confirmed that they will continue to operate on “to go” through May 3 and lobbies will remain closed from customers.

“After May 3, we do intend to slowly begin to adjust back to more normal operating models and benefits plans, recognizing that the COVID-19 situation in each community is still incredibly different and fluid,” Williams said.

Source: Fox News