Four casinos operated by the Navajo Nation will remain closed through at least Aug. 16. Even though they’ve been closed since March, the casinos had been using cash reserves to pay employees. Now more than 1,000 are facing layoffs and furloughs. 

Navajo Gaming CEO Brian Parrish says it was a difficult, but necessary decision, and they’re hopeful that the disruption is temporary.

“We’re working very closely with our board of directors and Navajo National leadership, and we’re working on solutions," Parrish said. "So we believe that we’ll be able to come up with something soon. We just reached a point where we exhausted the cash reserves we have available to utilize for the admin leave with pay, so we didn’t have a choice.”

Employees furloughed have received unemployment letters, which allow them to receive state unemployment benefits.

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