Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether FLUENT Cannabis dispensary employees may have shared customer tips with managers or supervisors who were prohibited from participating in employee tip pools.
Public employee information indicates that tips are part of compensation at FLUENT Cannabis. FLUENT Cannabis also uses a retail employment structure that includes Budtenders, Lead Budtenders, and supervisory employees. A 2026 NLRB proceeding identified Budtenders and Lead Budtenders as part of a bargaining unit while separately excluding statutory supervisors.
Federal law generally prohibits qualifying managers and supervisors from receiving portions of other employees’ tips through a tip pool. Whether an employee qualifies as a manager or supervisor depends on the employee’s actual duties and authority rather than job title alone.
Migliaccio & Rathod is investigating whether FLUENT Cannabis employees who exercised managerial or supervisory authority received portions of tips pooled from budtenders and other dispensary employees.
Employees May Have Experienced:
- Receiving cash or electronic tips from dispensary customers;
- Having customer tips combined into a common pool;
- Leads, supervisors, or managers participating in tip distributions;
- Supervisory employees regularly directing the work of budtenders;
- Supervisory employees running shifts or controlling work assignments; and
- Not receiving a clear accounting of how employee tips were distributed.
Potential Claims May Include:
- Improper manager or supervisor participation in tip pools;
- Unlawful retention of employee tips;
- Failure to properly distribute pooled tips;
- Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act;
- Violations of applicable state wage laws; and
- Recovery of tips or other compensation owed to employees.
Signs You May Be Affected:
- You worked for FLUENT Cannabis as a Budtender, Lead Budtender, Supervisor, or similar employee;
- Your dispensary accepted customer tips;
- Tips were pooled among employees;
- Supervisors or managers received portions of the tip pool;
- A tipped supervisor regularly ran shifts or directed other employees; or
- A tipped supervisor participated in discipline, hiring, scheduling, 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.