California Academy of Sciences announces layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts affecting hundreds

San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences will let go a fifth of its over 500 employees, furlough others, and cut pay and hours for some remaining employees.

“Beginning June 13, the Academy will implement layoffs, furloughs, and reductions to salary and hours impacting 75% of the institution’s 504 employees,” the nonprofit museum and research center said on its website. The museum said 105 will be laid off and 96 furloughed. Pay will be cut for 165 employees, and 11 employees’ hours will be cut.

The coronavirus and subsequent lockdowns have hit museums hard, drying up ticket revenues. The academy said it projected a revenue decrease of about $12 million, or 36%, in the upcoming fiscal year. The nonprofit said it would able to pay full salary and benefits for employees through June 12, in part because it had received $8.1 million in forgivable loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

The academy said for employees who will keep their jobs but see their pay decrease, it plans to cut wages for the highest earners the most, with no pay reductions for those earning less than $75,000 a year. The reductions will begin June 27. The museum’s highest-ranking executives will take a 15% pay cut, it said.

Executive Director Scott Sampson, who is taking a 20% pay cut, wrote in the announcement that employees were not to blame and encouraged them to support one another.

“We have survived earthquakes, fires, world wars, and pandemics. Ultimately, as with every previous challenge, we will successfully emerge from this crisis and grow to be even stronger and more impactful,” Sampson wrote.

Another San Francisco science museum, the Exploratorium, said it would stop scheduling 150 on-call staffers and lay off 100 students working part time after closing its doors March 12.

The Exploratorium previously cut pay for 250 staff members, half of whom were furloughed to minimum hours.

The Bay Area’s art museums have not been spared, either.

The Chronicle previously reported the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s plans to lay off, furlough or cut hours for more than 300 on-call and regular employees. SFMOMA previously said it expects to lose $8 million in forecast revenue through the month of June.