Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is laying off 58 workers at a customer service center in Clearwater, Florida, the company told labor regulators on Monday.
A “business restructuring” means 58 customer service representatives will be laid off effective May 1, according to a letter from Patrick Henning, the Tallahassee-based publicly traded marijuana multistate operator’s executive director of HR retail.
Companies are required by federal law to provide formal notice of a mass layoff.
It’s the first mass layoff in Florida for Trulieve since 2023, according to state records.
The company cut 155 jobs when it closed a facility in Lee that July, shortly before closing facilities in Massachusetts.
Trulieve layoffs follow earnings, Florida marijuana legalization roadblock
By far the largest cannabis operator in Florida, Trulieve posted an annual loss of $42.9 million last year amid growing uncertain tax liabilities – including money potentially owed to the federal government under Internal Revenue Code 280E – company officials said in an earnings call last week.
In addition to 164 medical cannabis dispensaries in Florida and 21 in Pennsylvania, the company also operates 22 adult-use cannabis stores in Arizona and eight in Ohio.
The company paid off $368 million in debt late last year.
Trulieve was also the largest bankroller of an adult-use marijuana legalization initiative in Florida that appears to have failed amid unprecedented resistance from hostile state officials.
Florida marijuana legalization not over yet, CEO claims
That includes Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier, the latter of whom announced the arrest of about a dozen campaign workers on the Trulieve-funded Smart & Safe Florida campaign.
State elections officials declared the ballot initiative failed to collect necessary signatures by a February deadline.
But the campaign has since sued, Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers noted in last week’s earnings call.
“We’re not at a final point yet related to Florida and ballot inclusion,” she said, according to a transcript.
Trulieve has spent at least $200 million on Florida adult-use cannabis legalization campaigns, including a 2024 bid that fell short at the ballot.
