Ex-Jungle Boys employees lament gender bias, stolen wages and poor working conditions

A civil lawsuit filed in April alleges that the culture is being practiced in boy-only growrooms; The company says employees have been laid off for good cause

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court late last month, two former employees of Jungle Boys TLC allege they were fired for protesting a work culture that they say includes gender discrimination, unpaid wages and illegal working conditions included. The company then claims the employees were fired for a good reason: alcohol in the workplace.

“The lawsuit will be defended on its merits in court,” a Jungle Boys spokesman said in response to the lawsuit. The civil suit alleges a total of 17 complaints and seeks “unlimited damages,” according to California court documents.

Related

LAPD raids Jungle Boys pharmacy and seizes $174,000 in cash and tips

The Jungle Boys TLC collective is made up of legacy operators who infiltrated California’s early legal cannabis industry. In March, Leafly reported on the unlawful raid by LAPD and federal agents on a Jungle Boys pharmacy in Los Angeles. Officers exited the raid with over $174,000 in cash and budtender tips.

Leafly has not investigated either the claims made in the lawsuit or the company’s counter-claims.

Allegedly bad working conditions

Plaintiffs Donna Rivadeneyra and Mario De La Cruz allege in the lawsuit that the Jungle Boys, legally known as the Toluca Lake Collective (TLC), used “stacked units” and shady management practices to employ illegal labor.

The former employees claim they were fired in retaliation for speaking out against poor working conditions, including unpaid wages and failure to provide accurate payslips.

Rivadeneyra also says she was repeatedly discriminated against because of her gender, adding that when she asked to be transferred from a trimming job to a cultivation job, she was told, “They were called ‘jungle boys’ for a reason : that no women were allowed to work there, the growing companies.” Later, Rivadeneyra claims, she was “warned not to become pregnant” because pregnant women were not allowed to work for Jungle Boys and were immediately fired.

The lawsuit also includes allegations of false detention: Rivadeneyra accuses the company’s human resources department of locking her in an office while trying to force her to sign a release of her claims.

The lawsuit was originally filed on April 27, but the complaint picked up steam in the cannabis world earlier this week on social media sites like Reddit and Twitter. Alan Romero, the attorney who filed the case in California Superior Court, caused a stir by posting it on Scribd and Reddit. In just four days, a thread Romero started on a Los Angeles-focused Reddit community garnered over 130 comments and 550 upvotes.

“Buy weed from women, not boys,” Chris Becker, co-founder of The Honeybee Collective, tweeted when the suit went viral on Monday.

Arthur D. Hodge, attorney for the Jungle Boys collective, responded on social media by posting photos of Rivadeneyra and De La Cruz near open containers of alcohol and claiming the employees were fired for drinking alcohol on the job.

Here’s how Jungle Boys responded to the suit

On May 11, the Jungle Boys Collective, through its attorney, sent Leafly an official statement, along with photos, which they claim justified the firing of both employees.

“An initial investigation into this action indicates that the allegations in the complaint are unfounded,” TLC said in a statement. “For example, the companies named in the lawsuit employ workers of any gender identification based on their experience and desired position. Women are employed in all areas of these companies, from entry level to upper management. The chief executive officer of one of the companies named in the lawsuit is a minority woman.”

The statement also said that plaintiff Donna Rivadeneyra was transferred from her trimming job to cultivation not because of lack of experience, but not because of her gender. “Jungle Boys is known for its exceptional product and certain standards are expected from seed to sale,” the company replied. “Hiring is based on those expectations and the experience that the employee brings to the team. Grow spots are usually sought by people who already have cannabis cultivation experience.”

The statement concludes, “The individuals filing this lawsuit violated workplace rules and business policies, including being depicted in photographs, for consuming alcohol during an off-site rest period.”

Plaintiff’s attorney wants others to come forward

“The point of my posting here was to start a conversation about this issue in the legal marijuana industry that’s affecting women, and these related outfits in particular,” Ramos wrote on Reddit. He also welcomed other California residents to come forward within three years of their “gender discrimination, relationship or harassment.”

Ramos explains, “If you were terminated on July 1, 2020, you (or an attorney acting on your behalf) would need to obtain a ‘Right-to-Sue Letter’ from FEHA by July 1, 2023 and file a lawsuit no later than Year later, on July 1, 2024. The drop dead date would be three years after you cancel. You (may) still have time to file your lawsuit.”

Leafly will continue to update readers on this case.

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