NY's cannabis 'labor peace agreements' target of federal lawsuit
- Jason Beck
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Brendan J. Lyons
04-15-2025
ALBANY — The operators of a retail cannabis store in New York City have filed a federal lawsuit against the state Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management challenging the constitutionality of a requirement in the law that legalized marijuana for all licensees to have labor peace agreements.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan this week by Hybrid NYC, a limited liability company that operates a store on Kent Street in Brooklyn under the name Gotham. The company received a retail cannabis license in September and opened its shop a month later.
The 2021 law that legalized marijuana in New York said the labor peace agreements were designed to protect “the state’s proprietary interests by prohibiting labor organizations and members from engaging in picketing, work stoppages, boycotts, and any other economic interference with the entity.”
The law also stipulates that the labor peace agreements are intended to protect the “proprietary interests” of the state as a stakeholder in the cannabis industry. But Hybrid’s lawsuit, the first of its kind against New York, contends that stipulation is unlawful because New York cannot have a proprietary interest in the marijuana industry without violating the federal Controlled Substances Act.
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