Billionaire businessman Tilman Fertitta said in an interview he did his workers a “favor” by furloughing them quickly to help them receive unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reports.
Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets, Golden Nugget Casinos, and Landry’s, appeared on Fox News’s “Ingraham Angle" to discuss business.
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During the interview, host Brian Kilmeade asked the businessman how he and his establishments were “holding up” amid the pandemic.
“I’m holding up pretty damn good,” Fertitta said. “But I’ve got 45,000 employees out there that we’ve had to furlough that is so tremendously unfortunate..."
Regarding the furlough, Fertitta was asked by Kilmeade “how hard” it was to come to that decision.
The billionaire cited his experience in operating businesses through several crises, saying employers like himself are doing their employees a “favor” by furloughing them quickly.
“You know, Brian, I went through the ’87 crisis, the 2000, the 2008,” Fertitta said. “You’re doing the people a favor if you get them furloughed first because you have them first to unemployment line after the severance that you give them. It’s a trick that I’ve learned many years ago.”