WeWork doesn’t want to hear about New York’s coronavirus lockdown — it just wants to know where your rent check is.
The cash-strapped subleasing giant is keeping all of its Big Apple office-sharing spaces open and refusing to give subtenants a break on the rent — despite recent outbreaks at its locations and the fact that most tenants have been barred from going to work per Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order last week, which shut down all non-essential businesses statewide under penalty of civil fines.
Lloyd Cox, a day trader who pays $675 a month for a private desk at a Manhattan WeWork space on West 29th Street, says the company denied him a partial refund on his March rent payment, arguing that the office has remained open. That’s despite the fact the WeWork space got closed last week for a daylong “deep cleaning” to address a coronavirus outbreak in the office.
“The office I’m in has seven desks right next to each other — you can’t even practice the 6 feet [of social distancing],” Cox told The Post. “Even if I felt comfortable from a safety point of view using my desk, it’s not worth the risk of getting fined $1,000,” he added.
To make matters worse, WeWork’s subtenants gripe that they’re paying full price for offices that are staffed by skeleton crews, as WeWork has told most of its own employees to work from home amid the virus scare. The normally bustling offices, which are popular with small startups and apps, are now mostly empty, tenants say.
Despite safety warnings from authorities, WeWork — which has grappled with numerous coronavirus cases at its Manhattan locations — has continued to give all of its customers keycard access to its workspaces. On Saturday, the day after Cuomo’s order, WeWork sent an email telling members to follow “federal, state and local government guidance,” without mentioning that doing so would mean avoiding the office.