This opinion column was submitted by Maria Morris, a stagehand at Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and an IATSE Local 720 member.

Despite casino owners being flush with cash, many have refused to provide any meaningful compensation to help their employees during the closures. 26 Executive Chef jobs available in Minnesota on Indeed.com. Apply to Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Senior Kitchen Manager and more!

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Here in Las Vegas, the smoke surrounding when and how our economy will reopen was partially lifted. Our famous casinos, which together make our city the gaming capital of the world, have reopened.

It may be good news for the balance sheets of billionaire casino owners who are eager to continue raking in profits from dedicated gamers. But for those of us who were tossed aside by those same owners during the high point of the crisis, we'll be going back to work knowing some of them still owe us money from the temporary closures.

Despite casino owners being flush with cash, many of them refused to provide any meaningful compensation or benefits to help their employees during the closures — and some of them still have not paid what they owe.

My employer, Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, even went so far as attempting to steal our wages. The casino closed its doors on March 17, and refused to return our calls, or pay us the severance that they owe us both legally and contractually.

Circus Circus Las Vegas is owned by billionaire investor Phil Ruffin, who also owns its neighboring casino, Treasure Island. He's worth an estimated $3 billion according to Forbes, and he recently bragged that he has enough cash to keep his casinos closed for 20 years.

That may sound like a shocking boast to some, but it actually shouldn't come as a surprise. Last year was another record-breaker for the U.S. casino industry, and Nevada, as always, was the crown jewel. Here, casinos played for keeps, and netted a whopping $12 billion.

With that kind of cash, you'd think the industry would be eager to support the city that made its banner-year profits possible. Instead, since COVID-19 hit and upheaved life as we knew it, big casinos are content to watch our economy nose-dive, and allow working people to suffer. Hundreds of thousands of local families, including mine, suddenly found ourselves out of work, and out of money.

And while my colleagues and I were left to our own devices, scrambling to get answers from Circus Circus Las Vegas about our jobs and severance, Ruffin was quite public about his total lack of concern for the hardships our families are facing.

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He told press in regard to the thousands of families, like mine, who he shortchanged: 'Hopefully they get a $1,200 check soon.' At the same time, Nevada's unemployment system was completely overwhelmed by the mass layoffs sweeping the state, and payments to thousands of laid-off workers were drastically delayed.

More: Lost in Nevada's unemployment system: Flatlining finances sound like a busy signal.

Perhaps Ruffin forgets that it's his workers and our city who have helped him amass his own enormous wealth. Ruffin bought Treasure Island from MGM Resorts amid the Great Recession in 2009 for $775 million. Today, the Strip casino is worth double that amount, thanks to workers like me, running the operations each day.

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It's almost as if Ruffin and other billionaire casino owners think Nevada is here for the taking — and it's always a one-way street. Hundreds of thousands of local families are the key to the casinos' success — greeting clients, cleaning rooms, dealing cards. We're the face of the operation, and the backbone.

But that reality is lost on Ruffin. And now, my colleagues and I will be expected to go back to work and continue lining his pockets, while he refuses to give us what we deserve.

In fact, Ruffin made an attempt to profit off the backs of his employees further when the press inquired to him about his plan to support us during the pandemic. He callously dismissed the suggestion, saying instead that if any employee were to ask for money, he would give them a loan at 3% interest.

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When the largest employers in the state turn their backs on their workforce, the consequences are dire — for working families, and for the Nevada economy. The current Nevada jobless rate is near 30 percent — double what it was during the Great Recession, and even worse than the state's 25 percent peak during the Great Depression. Across Nevada, more than 350,000 people have filed for unemployment benefits — the highest number in state history — and more than 200,000 of those people are casino workers.

While returning to work may decrease Nevada's unemployment rate, it won't erase the financial burden the mass layoffs have already caused workers and our communities, or the discontent among workers, which have arisen as a result of casino owners like Ruffin who have failed to fulfill their responsibility to us.

More: Nevada's 28.2% unemployment rate eclipses entire U.S. It's worse than the Great Depression

With the help of our union, we can and will overcome this injustice. Despite Circus Circus Las Vegas management not even answering our calls, we will get paid the severance we are owed. Meanwhile, we believe all casino executives should look to reform their emergency employee compensation plans.

My colleagues and I are calling on Phil Ruffin to pay what he is contractually obligated to provide to us. And we are also calling upon our elected officials and the Gaming Board to hold casinos to higher community standards.

For starters, every executive raking in the biggest wins from gaming should be expected to give back to the people who make their business possible. That is the only way that our City's most booming industry can sustain itself as a plausible career choice for locals, and lead our City on the path to financial recovery.

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This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: We've made billions for casinos — this is our thank-you Morris