Instacart is slashing pay for some of its workers in Chicago and three other cities, according to a report today in Recode.
Instacart, the grocery delivery startup that has raised $275 million and is valued at $2 billion, is cutting pay for workers in Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., as well as Chicago, according to screenshots of workers’ Instacart apps shown to Recode.
An Instacart spokeswoman confirmed to Recode that the company was cutting pay for workers in some cities, but was also raising pay in other markets. She declined to name the specific cities that were seeing cuts. An email to Instacart's press team wasn't immediately returned Tuesday morning.
The pay cuts impact workers who shop for and deliver groceries to Instacart users, and the decreases range from 6% to 21%, Recode says. Shoppers make between $10 and $20 an hour, according to Glassdoor.
This is the second time in less than a year that Instacart has cut worker pay for some of its front-line employees. In March, Instacart slashed hourly pay for workers in some cities as much as 40%.
Launched in 2012, Instacart has emerged as one of tech's fast-growing "unicorn" startups. The company has received venture funding from some of Silicon Valley's top investors, as well as grocery giant Whole Foods.
Instacart also faces a class action lawsuit from as many as 14,000 workers across the US who say they should have been classified as employees--not independent contractors--and are owed repayment for minimum wage, overtime, and other expenses.
