COVID-19 UPDATE 04/09/2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are experiencing a sudden and unprecedented decline in our customer orders. Based on the latest customer communications and orders we not planning on full OE production until May 4th at the earliest. To fulfill individual customer requirements during the extended shutdown, we may have to run some limited OE production on a day-to-day basis. Decisions and communication regarding limited production will be made on an as needed basis.
During this challenging business and economic slowdown, we have come to a difficult but necessary decision to furlough all salaried employees a minimum of two to three weeks over the next eight weeks (APR 13th – JUN 5th). During the upcoming 8-week period your working hours and schedule will be provided by your department manager. A driver of this decision was our determination that furloughed employees will be able to maximize state and federal unemployment subsidies in the coming weeks. Our original plan of reducing salaries and instituting a four-day workweek would not qualify employees for unemployment.
Your existing employment benefits will not be interrupted during furlough periods.
To support our employees during this period BILSTEIN will dedicate a team of resources to assist you in filing for unemployment benefits. Please see the attached flyer for details on how we plan to support interested employees in applying for unemployment.
We continue to look for and contact other companies that may have temporary employment needs for Bilsteiners interested in working. Any opportunities we find will be posted on the website. In the meantime, we continue to have opportunities to work in Aftermarket production on the four-shift model. If interested please reach out to Kelly Mulhall in Human Resources at kelly.mulhall@thyssenkrupp.com or call the main BILSTEIN line at 513-881-7600 and connect through to Human Resources.
We appreciate your cooperation, hard work, dedication, and understanding through this extremely challenging time. Our hope is that we will emerge, together, as a stronger company when the circumstances permit. If you have any questions, please contact our Human Resources Department or your Manager/Supervisor.