Former instacart The employee, who is running for Congress, claimed in the lawsuit that the company fired her out of concern that her Democratic political views could lead to backlash from the Trump administration.
Elizabeth Vedernikova Khanna, a candidate for Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, worked as chief of staff to Instacart’s chief executive since early 2023 before being fired in June, according to a lawsuit filed Sunday in San Francisco Superior Court.
Khanna, who goes by Lisa, accused the grocery delivery giant of rescinding her initial approval to run for Congress after reviewing a copy of her campaign website’s policy positions, “particularly my support for abortion rights and gun control.”
Instacart suddenly decided that “the potential risk of Republican backlash against the company outweighed Mr. Khanna’s right to run for public office,” the lawsuit alleges, first reported by The Washington Post early Monday.
Hours after that review took place, the San Francisco-based company “barred Mr. Khanna from running for Congress while continuing to work, ostensibly enforcing the company’s rules and policies,” according to the complaint.
“In less than two weeks, she was fired for her stated policy positions,” Khanna’s lawyers claim.
“Mr. Khanna’s assertion that his departure from Instacart was somehow politically motivated is completely false,” an Instacart spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CNBC.
“As part of our conflict of interest policy assessment, we determined that it would be impossible for Lisa to fulfill the demands of her role as chief of staff to the company’s chief executive officer, who oversees our policy, government affairs and communications teams, while also running a 17-month campaign for Congress,” the spokesperson said.
“Her political beliefs have no bearing on this decision,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company “repeatedly supported her civic engagement” by “granting numerous previous requests for much less time-consuming public political leadership roles.”
Instacart offered Khanna “time off or a paid hourly consulting contract during the campaign,” but she “rejected both offers and instead demanded $5 million, more than 20 times her annual salary,” a spokesperson said.
Khanna’s lawyers, meanwhile, argue that Instacart’s actions are consistent with how American companies have sought to continue receiving federal benefits since President Donald Trump returned to office.
“The tendency of powerful companies to bend over backwards to curry favor with the Trump administration is well documented,” his lawyers said in a statement about the lawsuit.
The lawsuit itself says then-CEO Fiji Simo took “several actions to strengthen Instacart’s relationship with the Trump administration” after the 2024 election. These actions included sending congratulatory gifts to Ivanka Trump and having the company donate $100,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund, while requesting meetings with senior government officials, according to the complaint.
Khanna accused Instacart of violating rules against employee political activity and unfairly firing her “in violation of California’s fundamental public policy.”
She is seeking a jury trial and is seeking both punitive and compensatory damages, “including damages for emotional distress and economic damages.”
She also wants the judge to order Instacart to “provide mandatory and meaningful training to all executives, managers, and employees regarding laws prohibiting interference with or retaliation for employee political conduct or activities.”
