Having Workers’ Compensation Insurance, or self-insuring, is required by the State of California.  An employer typically can’t avoid this requirement, not even a marijuana dispensary.

After law enforcement officers raided NBD Collective in Newark, the owners were slapped with several charges, including conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale, conspiracy to sell marijuana, selling marijuana, and (you guessed it!) failure to obtain workers’ compensation insurance.

In the words of my dear friend Kermit, “it’s not easy bein’ green.”

Perhaps California Workers’ Compensation can be used in the same way that Eliot Ness used tax violations to catch Al Capone – a foot in the door to prevent other criminal activity.

In any case, the NBD Collective had an unfair pricing advantage over honest, law-abiding marijuana peddlers (ha ha) in not getting workers’ compensation insurance.  And in this case, Workers’ Compensation worked to assist in the enforcement of other laws.

So remember, even criminals can get hurt on the job, and when they do, it pays to be insured.