Job Description

 HR Business Partner

Location: New York City, N

Job Type: Full-time / Exempt / Salaried

About The Travel Agency

The Travel Agency is a leading cannabis dispensary group in New York City, with locations in Union Square, Downtown Brooklyn, Fifth Avenue, and Soho. Rooted in community impact and social equity, we proudly employ formerly incarcerated individuals and champion BIPOC-, women-, and LGBTQIA-owned brands. Our mission is to blend innovation, education, and sustainability to elevate the cannabis retail experience and create pathways for economic opportunity.

Position Overview

The HR Business Partner (Employee Relations) serves as a key member of the People Team and acts as the dedicated day-to-day HR partner for two of The Travel Agency’s four retail dispensary locations. This role provides frontline HR support, coaching, and operational guidance to store leadership while overseeing all Employee Relations (ER) matters across the entire organization.

This HRBP leads complex investigations, drives equitable people practices, mitigates risk, and reinforces a consistent, fair employee experience across all stores. The ideal candidate has strong investigative skills, deep ER experience, and the ability to influence and support leaders in a fast-paced, highly regulated retail environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary HR partner for two designated dispensary locations, providing on-site and virtual HR guidance, leadership coaching, and employee support.
• Build strong relationships with Store Directors, Supervisors, and Associates to understand workplace needs, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
• Support workforce planning, scheduling practices, hiring alignment, and day-to-day HR activities at assigned stores.
• Conduct weekly on-site visits to maintain presence, gather insights, and ensure policy and culture consistency.

Employee Relations Leadership (Organization-Wide)

• Own all Employee Relations investigations and case management for the entire organization, including stores not assigned for day-to-day support.
• Lead complex investigations involving discrimination, harassment, theft, performance issues, workplace conflict, and policy violations.
• Conduct organization-wide time and attendance investigations, payroll/timekeeping audits, and scheduling equity reviews.
• Maintain detailed and compliant documentation, ensuring consistent practices across all TTA locations.
• Partner with HR leadership, Legal, and Operations on escalated ER matters or corrective actions.

Compliance, Audits & Risk Mitigation

• Conduct routine equity audits across all stores related to scheduling, compensation, corrective action, and performance ratings.
• Audit timekeeping, attendance, and payroll systems (Gusto, When I Work, POS) for accuracy and compliance.
• Ensure alignment with NYC labor laws, wage and hour regulations, NY Safe & Sick, and cannabis industry regulations.
• Track ER trends and present actionable insights to HR leadership.

Performance, Culture & Employee Experience

• Support Lattice performance cycles (self-reviews, manager reviews, feedback loops) for assigned stores.
• Assist managers in creating performance documentation, coaching plans, and corrective actions.
• Promote culture initiatives, including recognition programs (TTA Cypher), engagement efforts, and DEI-aligned programs.
• Partner with L&D to reinforce training consistency and support people-development initiatives across all stores.

Partnering Across a High-Growth, Union-Aware Environment

• Provide HR support to leaders navigating union environments, ensuring consistent interpretation of collective bargaining agreements.
• Assist in addressing employee concerns and supporting grievance-related steps as appropriate.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of HR Generalist, Employee Relations, or HRBP experience, preferably in retail, hospitality, cannabis, or other high-volume hourly sectors.
• Direct experience managing ER investigations in high-volume, multi-unit environments.
• Strong understanding of New York labor laws and workforce compliance requirements.
• Experience partnering with store-level leadership teams.
• Excellent interviewing, documentation, and communication skills.
• High emotional intelligence and the ability to build trust quickly.
• Strong judgment and discretion in handling sensitive matters.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Cannabis retail or other regulated industry experience
• Experience with HR technology platforms such as Gusto, Lattice, When I Work, or similar.
• Experience supporting unionized environments.

Salary & Work Location

Salary: $80,000–$105,000 (commensurate with experience)

Work Location: Hybrid — on-site in Manhattan a minimum of 4 days per week to support store teams and organizational ER work.

Why This Role Matters

This HRBP is instrumental in shaping the employee experience across all TTA locations. By providing dedicated support to two key dispensaries while owning ER across the organization, this role ensures fairness, transparency, and consistency in every aspect of the employee lifecycle—supporting TTA’s mission of building a responsible, inclusive, and high-performance workforce.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs