Shells fly out from their tubes and illuminate the sky over the Seneca Niagara Casino July 1. P-J photos by Chris Chapman

SALAMANCA — Seneca Resorts & Casinos announced “temporary furloughs” Thursday for some team members as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effective Monday, temporary furloughs will be implemented. Though there is no specific date slated for the furloughs to end and the resorts to reopen, the Seneca Resorts & Casinos executive leadership team continues to monitor the situation daily.

Team members will continue to receive regular updates during this period through the internal communications systems in place including the human resource hotline. Seneca Resorts & Casinos will continue to provide health, dental, disability, vision and life insurance coverage through May 31 to furloughed team members.

Employee Assistance Programs also remain in place for all team members who wish to utilize counseling services and other available programs.

“Seneca Resorts & Casinos has continued to monitor this unprecedented situation locally and globally daily,” said Holly Gagnon, president and CEO of Seneca Gaming Corporation. “We have reached the very difficult decision that temporary furloughs are necessary at this time. Impacted team members were notified first and we will continue to guide them through this process with our internal human resources hotline. Since our closure, across all three properties, Seneca Resorts & Casinos has provided three weeks of PTO to over 3,700 team members to help alleviate the impact to their families during this time. We hope to end this furlough quickly and welcome our team members, our Seneca family, back as soon as possible,” “Until we can all be together again we ask that everyone Stay Home, Stay Healthy, and we will See You Soon.”

“As a board we continue to support all of our team members through these unprecedented times and hope to have everyone reunited soon,” said Klint Nephew, vice-chair of the Seneca Gaming Corporation Board of Directors. “We also support the Seneca Gaming leadership as they make these difficult decisions.”