California cannabis workers have filed a major class action lawsuit against two cannabis companies, alleging that the companies did not pay their workers for overtime, did not provide the required meal and rest breaks and threatened employees not to leave the farm’s remote location.
According to the proposed class action lawsuit, a group of workers hired to trim cannabis at a farm in Lake County, California are looking to sue the cannabis harvesting company Loud Buddha LLC and Pura Cali Management Corp., a cultivation contractor hired by Loud Buddha.
The companies are accused of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and the California labor code for practices which, unfortunately, are common on illicit market cannabis grows but are now verboten on California’s newly legal cannabis farms.
According to the complaint, after working on the farm through the summer, 50 workers processed the crop and loaded it into commercial freezers. The workers said in the complaint they produced multiple tons of cannabis. While that may sound like a fun time, according to the workers’ 11-count complaint, it was anything but. They say they were forced to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. They were also expected to remain at the farm’s remote location and were threatened with discipline if they left. Other parts of the complaint included failing to track hours, overtime, travel reimbursement, and even not providing meal and rest breaks.
Read the full article at https://cannabisnow.com/a-group-of-california-trimmigrants-sue-for-worker-protections/
