Many of you will have heard about the most recent Curaleaf scandal, but unfortunately, it really isn’t getting the media traction it deserves. Curaleaf Holdings Inc. is an American cannabis company that is currently being sued by two employees over the theft of tips to the tune of around $50k. Interestingly this isn’t the first legal battle that this company has been involved in or even the only current legal issue involving the company. So let’s have a little look at who the company is, what they’ve done, and what else they are involved in.
Tip Theft
Plaintiff Morgan Heller is claiming that the managers of Curaleaf dispensaries stole tens of thousands in tips from employees. This employee was based in Northbrook but their store was not the only one experiencing tip theft. In fact, when the plaintiff contracted another Curaleaf store in Melrose Park was experiencing the same issue. Initially, the employees were told that they shouldn’t accept tips from customers, even though this is not normal practice in most cannabis dispensaries. Usually, there is a tipping culture for the employees much like in any other service industry. In October of 2020, the manager at Northbrook claimed that there had been a change in policy and a tip jar was placed at the front of the bar.
Again this tip jar was supposed to work like tip jars have worked since they were created. The money in the jar at the end of the shift would be split fairly between employees working in the front and the back of the shop. This was the understanding among the employees in the Northbrook shop. However, at the end of the day, the jar would disappear, but the money would not be given to the employees. The suit states that not once did the plaintiff receive tips left by customers nor any other employee.
The daily tips in a cannabis dispensary range from $350 – 600 a day. The calculation of the total amount taken by managers over the year is $126,000. After the suit was filed the employees started to get $60 – 100 in tips per week. The class-action lawsuit demands that damages be paid to Heller and all of the other staff members who had money stolen from them. The actions of the managers violate the Fair Labour Standards Act as well as the Illinois Wage Payment and Collections Act. This amazingly is not the first class-action suit that the company has faced.
The Incorrect Labelling Suit
The company actually encountered a wrongful death suit due to the incorrect labelling of CBD products. Earl Jacobe’s family filed the suit after he consumed huge amounts of THC due to the mislabeled products. The 78-year-old was regularly using a hemp CBD product sold by Curaleaf. After use, he experienced strange side effects and according to the family, he then experienced strange stroke-like episodes that lowered his immune system and resulted in his catching Covid-19. He was hospitalised twice in the week before his death.
When responding to this case the company claimed it was an unintentional human error, likely not extremely comforting to the family of the deceased.
What do I mean ‘responding to this case’? Well, this was one of 10 cases brought against the company as a result of this unfortunate human error. They ended up paying $50,000 to settle just one of the suits brought against them.
The high level of THC in this tincture caused another customer named Michael Lopez also experienced stroke-like symptoms and was admitted to hospital. Since the THC was not mentioned on the product it was hard to know what was happening and he was subjected to unnecessary surgery. Fortunately, he lived but the excessive amounts of psychoactive material has caused lasting mental and emotional damage.
The only thing that Curaleaf has said about the case is that they won’t allow the mixup to happen again. They publicly said that the THC in the drops was a standard amount. Unfortunately, because the people consuming the drops didn’t know it was there, most of them were taking more than one dose so that doesn’t really make a lick of difference.
Employee Theft
The final reason that this company has been in the news was a massive employee theft of marijuana. Two employees of the Mount Dora Curaleaf dispensary were charged with grand theft due to the alleged removal of around $50,000 worth of cannabis. The employees admitted to stealing several bags of marijuana and taking it home to resell to friends and private customers. The idea behind the theft was to claim that the packing machine was jammed. While they sorted the jam in the machine they would empty the contents and pocket them to take home. Well not literally pocket, but you get what I mean. They were caught due to an anonymous tip that they were stealing bags of product every single night that they worked. Well, they also got caught because they posted pictures of the stolen weed on Snap Chat which isn’t super clever. The employees were Danielle Eiler, 24, and Hector Valle-Roman also 24. Eiler seems to have been the mastermind behind the scheme but would split the profits from upselling with Valle-Roman for his assistance in the theft. Eiler fully admitted to the crime and both were taken to Lake County jail before being released on a bond of $ 5000 each.
Personally, I would say that the fact such a blatant theft could happen in a store with such a high-value product also points to the same incompetence that leads to at least one death and a bunch of lawsuits due to “human error”. Curaleaf might be a company to avoid in the future in case of any other potentially lethal mix-ups or worker rights violations. Of course, feel free to do your own research on the company and make your own decision, I just felt that we needed a little more media to focus on such a huge company committing such ridiculous and blatant crimes.
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