employment – Cannabis Industry

April 20, 2023 by Duane Morris

Employee Numbers up at Some Cannabis Msos Despite Challenging Conditions

News of widespread layoffs at cannabis companies across the United States has dominated headlines, but an analysis of employee counts at America’s largest multistate operators shows several actually grew their payrolls last year.

The fact that employee payrolls were up for some marijuana MSOs at the end of 2022 but down for others underscores how several factors can play a role in determining a company’s health.

Those factors include geographic footprint, taxes, operating costs and capital availability, experts said.

“The present moment is the Great Rationalization for the industry,” Paul Josephson, a New Jersey-based partner and leader of the cannabis industry group at the Duane Morris law firm, told MJBizDaily via email.

“Price compression and profitability varies tremendously by state and even within a state. So smart operators are taking a hard look at where they are investing their human capital.”

That means winding down operations in some areas and investing in others with more opportunity for revenue growth.

To read the full text of this article, please visit the MJBizDaily website.

March 24, 2020March 25, 2020 by Duane Morris

Will Cannabis Workers Be Eligible for Coronavirus Unemployment Benefits?

[…] With so many out of work and many more likely joining them in the coming weeks, Americans are looking to Washington D.C. to provide a lifeline. One bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), has already been signed into law by President Trump. This provides $1 billion in additional funds for states to direct toward bolstering their unemployment insurance programs.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been working to pass additional relief legislation—but when it comes to the federal government and the cannabis industry, the relationship is not usually cozy. Will those relief funds find their way to cannabis workers who are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic?

“Given that marijuana remains an unlawful substance under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, there has been concern that the relief under the FFCRA would not be available to cannabis businesses and, therefore, would not be available to support cannabis workers,” Linda Hollinshead, an attorney and Partner at Duane Morris LLP told mg.

[…]

“The law provides that any administrative grants transferred to the account of a state may be used ‘by such State only for the administration of its unemployment compensation law,’ suggesting that the money is being provided to support a state’s program, and that the federal government will not dictate how it is spent or what industries will be recipients of those grants,” Hollinshead said. “As a result, it does not appear that the additional availability of these federal funds under the FFCRA jeopardizes an individual’s ability to have access to state unemployment benefits.”

[…]

To read the full article, visit the mg Magazine website.

February 13, 2020 by Duane Morris

Key Cannabis Issues for Illinois Employers in 2020

By Jennifer Long

On January 1, 2020, Illinois became the 11th state to legalize adult-use cannabis. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act is comprehensive and impacts employers in many ways. Following Illinois’ legalization of medical cannabis in 2014, marijuana is now available for recreational use by all adults age 21 and older, while remaining an unlawful controlled substance under federal law. As a result, Illinois employers must ensure that they have considered their organization’s philosophy for dealing with marijuana in the application and disciplinary process for all positions and employees. Continue reading “Key Cannabis Issues for Illinois Employers in 2020”