Corporate layoffs announced at Mount Snow

Posted Wednesday, November 20, 2019 8:09 pm

This story was updated on Thursday at 5 p.m.

WEST DOVER — Some Mount Snow employees will lose their jobs as a result of a merger with Vail Resorts.

Mount Snow's parent company Peak Resorts was acquired by Vail Resorts this summer.

"As part of the acquisition and integration of our 17 new resorts in the Northwest, Mid-atlantic and Midwest, today we announced certain organizational changes including the elimination of duplicative roles in corporate functions," Jamie Storrs, resort spokesman, said in a text message Wednesday. "Our goal with these changes is to continue to build centralized and regional structures designed to best support our growing portfolio of resorts. While we are pleased to retain the vast majority of employees across our new resorts, we do recognize how challenging change can be for everyone involved and do not make these decisions lightly."

Storrs said the majority of affected employees will stay on through the 2019-20 winter season. He declined to provide the number of affected employees or information on what kind of jobs they hold. Erik Barnes, general manager, will stay on.

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According to a document answering frequently asked questions provided to employees, positions are going to be eliminated in departments dealing with finance and accounting, health and safety, hospitality, human resources, information technology, marketing, operations, real estate, reservations, retail/ rental and sales. The termination date for most employees affected by the layoffs is said to be May 1.

"Leaders from Vail Resorts reviewed roles and responsibilities at the resort in order to consolidate duties, change or redirect resources, or eliminate duplicate efforts," the document says. "This is the only organizational alignment that will occur as a result of Vail Resorts' acquisition of Peak Resorts. There are no additional changes planned as part of the integration."

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Each affected employee will be offered severance benefits based on tenure and job level, according to the document. The company plans to help employees set to leave before April 1 find work or another role with the company. It also said it will provide options for health care continuation once coverage ends on affected employees' last day of employment.

Stockholders approved the merger in September. A July news release announcing the merger said "synergies are expected to come from additional revenue across the Vail Resorts network of resorts and cost reductions from the elimination of certain duplicative administrative functions and greater efficiencies brought by Vail Resorts' size and scale."

A person with knowledge of the situation said, “An entire administrative floor ha(s) been ‘gutted’ and even some employees with more than a decade of employment at the mountain will lose their jobs, endangering the basic financial stability of many families in the valley just before the holidays.”

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Rep. John Gannon, D-Windham-6, called the news "sad."

"But you have to anticipate some layoffs with consolidation," he said, adding that it is "somewhat generous" of Vail Resorts to give employees time to look for another job.

Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Windham-Bennington, said, "There is a lot of regional employment opportunity, and so I'm hopeful these folks will easily find employment closeby. Nonetheless, many of these folks are long timers and treasured friends and colleagues to many at the mountain and in the Valley. Sad day locally."

Reach staff writer Chris Mays at cmays@reformer.com, at @CMaysBR on Twitter and 802-254-2311, ext. 273.