Chicago weed giant settled racial discrimination suit claiming subsidiary’s workers made illegal deliveries to military bases

A month before going public in Canada, the Chicago pot giant Verano Holdings quietly settled a federal lawsuit that accused the ascendant $3 billion firm and its subsidiary of discriminating against a Black employee who claimed he was fired after being ordered to illegally deliver medical marijuana to military bases in Maryland.

The suit, filed in October 2019 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern Division of Maryland, alleged that Verano and VZL Staffing LLC engaged in “racial discrimination and retaliation” that violated the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. The settlement came as Verano was further expanding its footprint in Illinois — and as advocates and applicants for new cannabis licenses continued to highlight the lack of diversity in the state’s increasingly profitable weed industry.

The plaintiff, Kamal Malaki Hameed, is a Black man who was described as a disabled military veteran in the lawsuit. In his initial filing, Hameed claimed VZL Staffing hired him in October 2018 to deliver medical cannabis to patients in Maryland.

Later that month, Hameed pushed back when he was assigned to make a delivery to an unnamed military installation in Annapolis — where the U.S. Naval Academy is located. Though Hameed objected because he “knew such conduct was illegal,” his superiors ordered him to make the delivery, according to the suit. Maryland has legalized cannabis for medical use, but the drug remains illegal on the federal level.

That December, Hameed was also directed to drive with a supervisor to make a delivery to a naval air station in St. Mary’s County, the suit noted. Despite his opposition, he said he was again ordered to make the drop-off.

In the suit, Hameed claimed he was the only Black employee to challenge VZL Staffing’s “policy of illegal delivery of medical marijuana to federal military bases in Maryland.” Records show VZL Staffing was dissolved last December, exactly a month before the suit was settled. The company, which was not in good standing with the state of Maryland, listed Verano’s general counsel, Darren Weiss, as its resident agent and provided an address that houses one of Verano’s Zen Leaf dispensaries in Maryland.

Following his objections, Hameed claimed he “became increasingly aware of the hostility and distrust his supervisors had for him and of the disparate treatment that was visited upon him over the course of his employment.” The treatment included “harassment, intimidation, having a supervisor go with him when he made his deliveries, and scrutinizing his work more closely than other Caucasian and non-African American drivers,” the suit stated.

Hameed claimed the abuse happened at an address occupied by another Zen Leaf dispensary. He said his complaints of racial discrimination and other reports he made detailing “gender-based discrimination” against a superior fell on deaf ears, according to the lawsuit.

Later in December 2018, he told Verano’s executive vice president, Anthony Marsico, that he was “being subjected to harassment and retaliation on the basis of his race at the hands of his superiors.” Marsico promised an investigation and told Hameed “to wait for further instructions,” the suit noted.

Hameed was then fired the next month for failing to show up for a shift, although he claimed that company records showed he wasn’t scheduled to work.

In a response, Verano and VZL Staffing flatly denied that claim and many others outlined in Hameed’s complaint.

However, the suit was ultimately dismissed on Jan. 15 after the parties involved “amicably settled all disputes,” a joint filing stated. Court records show Hameed sought $300,000 for lost wages and benefits, damages, legal fees and other costs but details of the settlement weren’t made public.

Hameed’s attorney, Mark Howes, declined to comment on the settlement agreement. Attorneys for Verano and VZL Staffing didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last week, Verano started trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The company now touts itself as “one of the three largest multi-state operators in the U.S.,” a designation typically reserved for corporatized weed firms.