A lawsuit against Instacart alleges that the mobile shopping giant fired a corporate employee for running for Congress, citing fears that some of her Democratic positions could lead to backlash from President Donald Trump and Republicans. The lawsuit from Lisa Vedernikova Khanna, a candidate in Virginia, alleges that the California-based company “conditioned” her employment on her ending her campaign and that an internal Instacart “risk assessment” of her bid stated that the campaign “presented risk to the company” because it could involve criticizing the president and other Republicans.
Khanna contends Instacart’s action is the latest example of how Trump’s threats of retaliation have intimidated corporate America, leading large companies to recalibrate their approach to political speech as they fear a president who has used his bully pulpit and executive powers.
The lawsuit says Instacart violated a California law that bars companies from preventing their employees from becoming candidates for public office, among other complaints.
According to the lawsuit, a senior company official cautioned in the risk assessment that Khanna’s campaign “would involve criticizing Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration, which could be attributed to Instacart.”
“Instacart was poised to green-light my run up until they saw my policy positions and then they illegally fired me out of fear of retaliation from Republicans in the Trump administration,” Khanna said in an interview. “Corporate America has really been bending a knee out of fear by limiting the political expression of employees in different ways. And I think that’s really chilling and something that concerns us all.”
Lyndsey Grubbs, an Instacart spokesperson, said in a statement that Khanna’s “claim that her separation from Instacart was somehow politically motivated is flat out false,” alleging that she was fired because the company determined it was impossible for her to “fulfill the demands of her role” while also running for Congress.
“Her political beliefs had absolutely nothing to do with this decision,” said Grubbs, noting that the company had approved prior requests she made, including to be the president of the Virginia Young Democrats.
Grubbs added that the company offered Khanna either a leave of absence or a paid, hourly consulting arrangement, but that Khanna declined, “and instead demanded that we pay her $5 million.”
Andrew Adelman, the attorney representing Khanna in the suit, called Instacart’s assertions — including the demanded payout — “false on all counts.”
“In fact, Instacart themselves affirmatively said that capacity and bandwidth were not issues. Nor did they offer any consulting arrangement,” Adelman said in a statement.
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