Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether Native Roots Cannabis dispensary employees may have been required to share customer tips with managers, supervisors, or other employees who were not legally permitted to participate in employee tip pools.
Native Roots has operated a substantial cannabis retail workforce in Colorado with budtenders and store-level management personnel. The available research identifies Native Roots as a potential target for investigation because its retail structure provides a clear basis for determining whether employees with meaningful supervisory authority participated in tips received by hourly dispensary workers.
Federal law generally prohibits qualifying managers and supervisors from keeping portions of tips belonging to other employees. This restriction may apply regardless of whether the supervisory employee is salaried or hourly.
Migliaccio & Rathod is investigating whether Native Roots employees received all customer tips to which they were entitled and whether supervisory or managerial employees participated in tip pools.
Employees May Have Experienced:
- Receiving Native Roots customer tips while working as a budtender or other dispensary employee;
- Having tips combined into a common employee pool;
- Leads, supervisors, or managers receiving portions of pooled tips;
- Supervisory employees directing the work of tipped employees;
- Supervisory employees opening or closing dispensary locations; and
- Not receiving a clear accounting of how pooled tips were divided.
Potential Claims May Include:
- Improper manager or supervisor participation in Native Roots employee tip pools;
- Unlawful retention of employee tips;
- Failure to properly distribute customer tips;
- Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act;
- Violations of Colorado wage laws; and
- Recovery of tips or other compensation owed to employees.
Signs You May Be Affected:
- You worked for Native Roots Cannabis as a budtender or other hourly dispensary employee;
- Your Native Roots location accepted customer tips;
- Employee tips were pooled;
- Leads, supervisors, or managers received portions of pooled tips;
- A tipped supervisor regularly directed other employees or ran shifts; or
- A tipped supervisor participated in scheduling, discipline, hiring, evaluations, or promotions.
If you have encountered these issues, we would like to hear from you. Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call.