Reno Housing Authority Being Sued by Disabled Vet

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The Associated Press wire story has been picked up by print and television news media on Thierman Buck client Joaquin Roces.

A lawsuit was filed in Federal court on behalf of disabled veteran Joaquin Roces against the Reno Housing Authority for failure to pay minimum wage and failure to pay overtime premium. Roces was evicted shortly after asking his supervisors why his pay didn’t measure up to both the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and the Nevada minimum wage of $8.25. Roces’ employment agreement with the Housing Authority provided that he would perform watchman/guard and handyman/maintenance work in exchange for free rent. The agreement further required that Roces work over 40 hours in a week and required him to be on call 24/7 over the weekends and holidays. Roces ended up working 113 hours per week. Based on the value of the apartment this meant Roces was only being paid between 73 cents and $1.73 per hour.

“Immediately upon demanding he gets paid, they try to throw him out on the street,” attorney Joshua Buck said.

The Housing Authority denies any wrong doing but has allowed Roces to remain in the apartment until December 31, 2015 while the litigation is pending.

The Thierman Buck team is looking into whether this practice is taking place in other housing authorities around the country.

“I think it’s a fairly common occurrence,” Mark Thierman said.

For more, please see the following stories:

Disabled Vet Suing Reno Housing Authority Over Labor Laws from KOLO-8.
Disabled Vet Suing Reno Housing Authority from Elko Daily.
Disabled vet suing Reno Housing Authority Over U.S. Labor Laws from Nevada Appeal.
Disabled Vet Suing Reno Housing Authority Over U.S. Labor Laws from KTVN-2 News.

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