Ex-Curaleaf exec files harassment suit against cannabis MSO

A former senior vice president of Curaleaf Holdings alleges in a lawsuit that the cannabis multistate operator terminated her employment after she complained about sexual harassment and racist comments.

Khadijah Tribble, who is Black, also alleged in the suit against New York-based Curaleaf and former CEO Matt Darin that she was fired in March 2023 after taking time off from work to deal with mental health issues she suffered after a death threat she received from a company vendor via voicemail.

Tribble is seeking compensation for:

• Emotional distress.
• Lost wages, including back pay, lost benefits and front pay (money awarded for lost compensation typically stemming from employment discrimination or anti-retaliation cases).
• Unpaid wages.
• Attorneys fees.
• Costs and expenses associated with the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Tribble earned an annual salary of $200,000 in her role as vice president of corporate social responsibility overseeing “Curaleaf’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and its efforts to build an ecosystem of impact, policy and business aligning with the greater good for both the cannabis industry and the communities in which Curaleaf operated and served.”

During her time at Curaleaf, Tribble received numerous accolades and was appointed interim CEO for the U.S. Cannabis Council.

Although her salary had increased to $275,000 by spring 2022, Tribble alleges in her lawsuit that her compensation “still failed to align with that of her white, male peers at the executive level within Curaleaf.”