Columbia Sportswear employees to receive regular pay as CEO cuts own salary to $10,000

Tim Boyle, who serves as president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Company, will be reducing his annual salary to $10,000 as his company continues to pay its employees, despite its stores being closed, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson for the sportswear brand confirmed the move by Boyle to The Hill on Sunday. The representative also added that a number of other company executives will be taking 15 percent pay cuts as well.

While the company does not disclose salary figures, The Oregonian reported that Boyle’s total pay in 2018 amounted to more than $3 million.

The decision by Boyle follows his recent announcement that his company would be extending the closure of all its brick-and-mortar stores in North America until April 10 due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“Our employees will continue to be paid during this period of time, and we hope to have them back at work soon,” Boyle said in the announcement on Friday.

He also added in the statement that his company, which was founded in 1938, has taken “many steps to carry out the health and safety advice from the relevant health authorities around the world to limit potential transmission of COVID-19.”

A spokesperson for the company said employees had already been given “catastrophic pay” for the past several weeks after the business closed its stores in response to the outbreak earlier this month. She added that the company has more catastrophic pay for its employees in the wake of its recent decision to extend the closures into early April.

The news comes days after a spokesperson for Texas Roadhouse Inc. told The Hill that its founder and CEO, W. Kent Taylor, would be giving up his entire bonus and base salary this year to pay his chain’s workers during the pandemic.