The company that owns the California marijuana farm that was raided by immigration agents this week is in deep legal trouble over its unethical and bad business behavior.
According to data scientist Jennica Pounds, who goes by “Data Republican” on X, the farm is owned by Glass House Brands, a company that’s currently facing a class-action lawsuit.
Glass House Farms was the marijuana growing operation that got raided yesterday. They had a class-action lawsuit filed against them for failing to pay wages and failing to provide breaks. https://t.co/99yCLgXePl pic.twitter.com/9SiphoYGs6
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) July 11, 2025
“The class-action suit, filed by a former employee in Los Angeles, accuses Glass House Brands Inc. … of engaging in a systematic pattern of wage violations,” according to mg, a magazine covering the cannabis industry.
“Defendants knew or should have known they had a duty to compensate plaintiff and class members, and defendants had the financial ability to pay such compensation, but willingly, knowingly, and intentionally failed to do so in order to increase the defendants’ profits,” the suit reads.
Glass House Brands has also been accused of not providing meal breaks, rest breaks, sick pay, overtime pay, and more.
The suit was filed by Gerardo Melendez, who alleged that each farmworker was required to process four pounds of marijuana daily — a quantity so high that workers never had time to take breaks, including even bathroom breaks.
“Defendants failed to authorize or permit Plaintiff and Class Members from taking recovery periods,” the suit reads. “Specifically, Plaintiff and Class Members were required to work during hot days, including during summer, without access to shade or recovery periods to cool down and prevent heat illness.”
Melendez also accused Glass House of making its employees “regularly” work “in excess” of eight hours per day to meet the “excessive quotas.”
Glass House Farms is the state-licensed cannabis farm that was raided yesterday for exploiting children.
Kyle Kazan (left), co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Glass House Brands, and Graham Farrar (right), the company’s president who oversees farming operations, knew what was… pic.twitter.com/r6nheuSBw6
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) July 11, 2025
This isn’t even the first lawsuit the company has faced.
“In May 2023, two former Glass House harvesters, Anna Maria Pederia and Lourdes Patricia Avalos, filed a class action lawsuit against Glass House Brands and its subsidiaries,” according to the Washington Examiner.
The suit targeted the company “for allegedly refusing to pay regular and overtime wages, provide meal periods or appropriate compensation, permit rest time, offer suitable seating during labor hours, and compensate terminated or resigned employees.”
The following month, the marijuana retail chain Catalyst Cannabis Co. sued, accusing Glass House Brands of being “one of the largest, if not the largest, black marketers of cannabis in the State of California, if not the country.”
Catalyst added that Glass House Brands had “purposefully structured its business so as to massively profit from the illegal sale of cannabis to the substantial financial detriment of legal operators.”
Early last year, former employee Alma Zaravia Garcia filed a complaint alleging that Glass House Brands had forced her to buy their water but never compensated her it.
Last summer, former employee Beatriz Hernandez sued, accusing Glass House Brands of imposing “systematic quota and production demands” on workers and of having “a consistent policy of violating state wage and hour laws.”
And then last September, former employee Miryam Vences filed a suit accusing the company of having engaged in “illegal payroll policies and practices,” including working off the clock and skipping meal breaks.
New complaints and lawsuits are expected now that underage children have been found working at the company’s farms.
BREAKING: A Newsom donor’s cannabis farm, Glass House Farms, is under federal investigation for child labor violations.
9 unaccompanied children rescued amid clashes with authorities. pic.twitter.com/5ZJQPnQ6cr
— Tanner Bruss (@tan_bruss) July 11, 2025
Glass House has, for its part, pleaded ignorance.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it said in a statement. “We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward. We will provide additional details when applicable.”
Yesterday, Glass House Brands received immigration and naturalization warrants. As per the law, we verified that the warrants were valid and we complied.
Workers were detained and we are assisting to provide them legal representation.
Glass House has never knowingly violated…
— Glass House Brands Inc. (@GlassHouseBR) July 11, 2025
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Author: Vivek Saxena
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