Paid leave will end Monday for hundreds of people who had been on administrative leave from their jobs with Navajo Nation casinos because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise has kept nearly 12 hundred people on the payroll since March when its casinos in New Mexico and Arizona shut down. Gaming officials say they can no longer afford to support the full payroll. The enterprise's interim chief executive says 900 employees will be among the initial layoffs. Another 125 will be paid for another week. The total number of known COVID-19 infections on the Navajo Nation now stands at nearly 9,000 with at least 441 known deaths.
