SAN FRANCISCO — Instacart’s parent company, Maplebear Inc., will pay $5 million to settle a federal investigation into claims that the grocery delivery company discriminated against American workers through its recruiting and hiring practices, the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
The agencies said they uncovered evidence that Instacart preferred to hire foreign workers through an employment-based green card program rather than Americans. Under the settlement, Maplebear will pay $1 million in civil penalties and up to $4 million to affected people who applied for jobs between December 2023 and February 2026. The company also agreed to post job openings available to foreign workers on its public website and to accept electronic applications from Americans.
At the center of the case is the Permanent Labor Certification program, known as PERM, which lets employers sponsor temporary visa holders for permanent resident status if they first make a good-faith effort to recruit U.S. workers. According to the Associated Press, the agencies said Instacart burdened U.S. applicants by requiring them to physically mail applications for PERM-listed jobs, while its standard recruitment process accepts electronic applications.
“This significant resolution marks the fifteenth settlement agreement the Civil Rights Division has reached under my leadership to protect U.S. workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our record demonstrates that the Justice Department is holding companies who prefer workers with temporary employment visas accountable.”
Instacart maintained that its practices complied with the law. “While we maintain that our practices complied with all applicable laws and regulations, we’re pleased to have resolved this matter so we can keep our full focus on delivering on our mission for customers, shoppers, retailers, and brands,” the company said in a statement provided by a spokesperson. In a separate statement reported by the AP, the San Francisco-based company said hiring and investing in American workers is its priority and that it promotes every role across many channels.
The settlement is the latest in a series the administration has reached with companies accused of favoring foreign workers. According to Reuters, the Justice Department has compiled more than a dozen such settlements since last year, including a $3.2 million deal with OpenAI announced in August; OpenAI denied that it discouraged Americans from applying. The EEOC, which enforces federal workplace discrimination law, has separately announced settlements and lawsuits over alleged bias against American workers.
For job seekers, the practical change is procedural: PERM-related openings at Instacart must now be posted publicly and must accept electronic applications on the same terms as other roles, removing the mail-in step the agencies said deterred U.S. applicants. The compensation fund covers people who applied for the affected jobs during the December 2023 to February 2026 window, or who were deterred from applying.
The case lands as the administration continues a broader crackdown on what it describes as abuses of foreign worker visa programs — a policy that has put large technology and delivery companies’ hiring paperwork under sustained federal scrutiny. Read the Justice Department’s announcement here.
