Medical marijuana companies – dispensaries, growers and large-scale operations that coordinate the entire supply chain – have recently started getting a lot of attention for failing to stick to California’s wage and hour laws. In fact, they’ve been the subject of a number of class action lawsuits recently. Here’s what you need to know.
Related: What is a class action lawsuit?
A recent lawsuit filed in California Superior Court, right here in Los Angeles County, alleges that two subsidiaries of MedMen, Manlin I and DT Fund II Group, failed to:
Failing to pay employees is a form of wage theft, and that’s against the law. The rules are in place for a reason – and when a company fails to obey them, they’re subject to legal consequences that can even include being taken to court for a class action lawsuit.
Some people are exempt from overtime rules that require employers to pay them time-and-a-half for the hours they work. You may be exempt if you:
Generally, executives, administrative employees, creative professionals, learned professional employees and outside salespeople are exempt.
Nonexempt workers are those who are protected by overtime laws. Usually, hourly workers, those whose primary duties involve manual labor and some others are nonexempt workers.
The same laws that apply to every other industry apply to California marijuana retailers. The law says that nonexempt employees over the age of 18 (or minors who are 16 or 17, but who aren’t required to go to school and who are eligible to work) can’t work more than 8 hours in a workday or more than 40 hours in a workweek without being paid overtime.
The law is very clear on overtime pay for nonexempt employees. Here’s how it works:
If you work more than 12 hours in a single workday, or if you work more than 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day of the workweek, your employer has to pay you twice your regular rate.
If you make $20 per hour and work 10 hours in one day, you’re entitled to $30 per hour for the 9th and 10th hours. That means you’d make your regular pay ($160) plus $60 (for the 9th and 10th hours) for a total of $220.
When you work for a marijuana company, you’re entitled to the same meal and rest breaks that most other California workers are entitled to.
You’re allowed to take:
If your employer denies you these breaks, provided that you’re not an exempt employee, you could have legal recourse.
Marijuana retailers – like all other companies operating in California and elsewhere in the U.S. – have to stick to federal and state employment laws. If you’re working for a marijuana company that’s violating your rights, you may have legal recourse. Call us at 818-230-8380 now for a free consultation. We’ll answer your questions and start putting together a strategy that gets you the best possible outcome.
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