Laid-Off Trulieve Worker Files Possible Class Action Suit

Florida-based Trulieve (CSE: TRUL) (OTCQX: TCNNF) may have a class-action lawsuit on its hands now that one ex-worker has filed suit against the business and is claiming she and “other similarly situated employees” didn’t receive a mandatory 60-day notification prior to losing their jobs.

Trulieve laid off “an unspecified number of workers” in recent weeks at three of its facilities in northern Florida, including in Midway, Monticello, and Quincy, the News Service of Florida reported. The lawsuit estimated the number of workers laid off to be “several hundred.”

The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida by Ranjill O’Neal, a former Trulieve employee who lost her job on Nov. 29 with zero advance notice, according to the suit. O’Neal learned of her termination via email, and the suit alleges that other employees “received a similar email as well.”

The suit is seeking class-action status, but that would require more employees to join the legal action, and the lawsuit’s future is unclear.

The suit requests 60 days worth of pay, vacation, and other benefits for terminated employees that they would have allegedly accrued if the two-month notice period had been followed by Trulieve.

Trulieve rejected the allegations and said it complied with all state and federal laws.

“Where possible, Trulieve offered impacted employees new positions at the same site or at other sites in the area. Where transfers were not feasible or accepted, employees were offered severance packages,” Trulieve attorney Glenn Burhans Jr. said in a statement to the News Service.

A different company spokesperson further told the News Service that the layoffs were due to a “combination of factors,” including eliminating redundant positions following the merger with Harvest Health & Recreation a year ago.

Trulieve employs roughly 9,000 workers at its facilities across the country, and the company added that it is “committed to northwest Florida,” and cited the recent opening of a new facility in Jefferson County.