Six Flags Entertainment Corp., the parent company of Knott’s Berry Farm, is laying off 140 employees at three of its theme parks in California, including 65 at Knott’s in Buena Park, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter sent to state employment officials on May 22.
Knott’s positions being eliminated, effective July 21, include team leads, an executive chef, sales associates, supervisors and a regional manager. The other 75 layoffs are occurring at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.
The cuts are part of a 10% reduction in staff occurring at Six Flags theme parks across North America, according to various media reports. Knott’s President Jon Storbeck, as well as other brand presidents, were also let go, as first reported by the Orange County Register on May 23.
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. said in the WARN letter that it will be “offering a majority of the impacted employees the opportunity to continue employment in a reclassified part-time position (in the employee’s same job function).”
Full-time employees who are not offered a reclassification opportunity or who do not accept a reclassification will be offered a severance package and their employment will terminate on July 21.
The layoffs come less than two years after the $8 billion merger between Six Flags Entertainment and the then-parent company of Knott’s, Cedar Fair.
