Instacart Loses Bid to Keep Worker Status Claims Out of Court

Instacart failed to convince a California appellate court Tuesday that the San Diego city attorney must arbitrate claims for injunctive relief and restitution in a suit alleging the grocery-delivery platform misclassified its shoppers as independent contractors.

The San Diego city attorney sued Instacart, legally registered as Maplebear Inc., in Sept. 2019, alleging violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Instacart misclassified workers in order to deny them employee protections, harming its employees and the public at large, the suit said.

A trial court in San Diego granted a temporary restraining order in Feb. 2020, preventing Instacart from classifying San Diego shoppers ...