Hatteras summer furlough to last six weeks

swadminJune 3, 2009

NEW BERN, N.C. — Hatteras Yachts on Tuesday revealed a planned six-week summer furlough, according to a report in the New Bern Sun Journal.

A furlough had been anticipated since layoffs in January, the paper reported, and will run from July 1 to mid-August. Hatteras Chairman Bill Naumann said that while no new boats will be produced, service to customers and dealers will be uninterrupted by the production halt.

“Typically we take the first week in July as furlough and we are extending it for six weeks for all except those necessary for boat deliveries and new product development deadlines we have to meet,” Naumann told the Sun Journal.

For 90 of the roughly 300 employees still at the plant, the furlough will be indefinite.

“We have every intention of bringing them back. They have pay and benefit continuation up until the 1st of August and after that they are eligible for unemployment,” Naumann said. “There is also federal aid for assistance with COBRA payments.”

Naumann, who was pulled from retirement in November to return to Hatteras, told the paper that in his years in the business, “This is by far the worst thing I’ve seen from an economic standpoint.”