Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor found that the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority failed to compensate employees for hours that they worked before and after their shifts or during meal breaks. It ordered the housing agency to pay $425,000 in back pay to the 77 workers it ripped off.

You’d think such a state agency would be sensitive to the realities and legalities of operating on the economic margins — it’s charged with providing housing for low-income families.

But that wasn’t its only labor offense — the DOL also found that the authority had classified some employees as salaried and exempt from overtime requirements, despite the fact that their job responsibilities did not qualify them for salaried/exempt status.

That wasn’t the only recent whopping big breach of labor law in northern Nevada:  More than 4,700 current and former hourly employees of the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino were allowed to join a class-action lawsuit seeking wage and overtime compensation.

They’re seeking a significant amount — possibly exceeding $50 million — for working “off the clock” for a few years. Like the housing authority situation, that’s when workers are on the job before they clock in or out for their shifts, and it’s a common way for employers to steal wages.

Read the whole story from Associated Press.