Chicago Cubs vow to pay employees through May

Amidst the uncertainty COVID-19 brings, the Chicago Cubs vowed to pay their employees through May.

The Chicago Cubs and the coronavirus pandemic are continuing to run rampant, and the 2020 MLB season is still suspended. As May is rapidly approaching, there are more decisions that organizations need to make.

One of these decisions is how to go about paying employees. The Cubs committed to pay their workers full base compensation beyond April and through the entire month of May, despite whether the MLB 2020 season resumes during this time or not.

The decision was made as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that starting May 1, all Uniform Employee contracts will be suspended. This will allow teams to furlough their employees or cut their salaries.

Employees that were under Uniform Employee contracts include scouts, managers, coaches, and some front-office personnel. It should be noted that the Cubs vowed to pay employees that were working on Uniform Employee contracts as well as those that were not working on these contracts.

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Many other teams have made the same decision as the Cubs to pay their employees throughout May including the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves. The San Diego Padres took it a step further and have made the decision to pay their baseball ops employees, which is about half of their employees through October, whether the 2020 season resumes or not.

Due to this uncertainty and the great chance that baseball will be played without fans, different teams, including the two Chicago ball clubs have come up with plans to compensate fans with ticket plans which have already given the teams money towards these plans.

The Cubs have a plan in place that would offer the option for season ticket holders to take interest on money being held for 2020 if it rolls over for 2021. Season ticket holders also have the option of receiving a complete refund.

Unfortunately, there is no timetable in place for when the MLB season could possibly resume at all. Plans, including the Arizona Plan and other multi-city plans have been discussed, yet nothing has been agreed upon.

The Arizona Plan would entail all 30 teams playing in the vicinity of the Phoenix area at spring training facilities without fans. Players would quarantine at hotels between games. The three-state plan would include teams being stationed in Florida, Arizona or Texas, and clubs would make use of the facilities in that given state to play games without fans.