Instacart to Pay $5 Million to Settle Federal Claims It Discriminated Against U.S. Job Applicants
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have announced a $5,000,000 settlement with Maplebear Inc., the company that does business as Instacart, resolving allegations that the grocery-delivery company discriminated against U.S. workers in recruitment tied to the federal PERM green-card sponsorship process. Instacart says its practices complied with the law, and the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
What we know / What we don’t know
What we know:
- The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the EEOC announced the $5,000,000 settlement with Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) on October 20, 2026.
- The settlement breaks into two parts: a compensation fund of up to $4,000,000 for affected job applicants, and $1,000,000 in civil penalties paid to the United States.
- The agencies alleged violations of two laws: citizenship-status discrimination under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and national-origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Investigators found that Instacart required applications for PERM-advertised jobs to be physically mailed in, though its standard process accepted electronic applications — and that many U.S. applicants were not considered in time.
- The fund covers applicants — and people deterred from applying — affected between December 2023 and February 2026; a claims administrator will decide eligibility for back pay and compensatory damages.
- Instacart must also post PERM positions on its public career website, accept electronic applications, train personnel on anti-discrimination obligations, revise its policies, and submit to monitoring and reporting.
- Instacart’s position: the company maintains its practices complied with all applicable laws and regulations, and says it settled to stay focused on its business (statement reported by Reuters).
What we don’t know:
- How many individual applicants were affected, or how much any one person may receive — the agencies have not published a count, and eligibility decisions rest with the claims administrator.
- Which specific job titles were involved — the releases describe them only as PERM-advertised jobs; Reuters reported the jobs were unspecified.
- The length of the monitoring period — the release links a summary of terms but does not state the duration.
Key facts
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Agencies | DOJ Civil Rights Division and the EEOC |
| Announced | October 20, 2026 |
| Total settlement | $5,000,000 |
| Compensation fund | Up to $4,000,000 for applicants and deterred applicants |
| Civil penalty | $1,000,000 to the United States |
| Period covered | December 2023 – February 2026 |
| Laws cited | INA (citizenship status); Title VII (national origin) |
| Program at issue | Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) |
| Practice challenged | Requiring mailed paper applications for PERM-listed jobs |
| Required changes | Public website job postings, electronic applications, staff training, policy revision, monitoring and reporting |
| Interim claimant contact | Instacart@eeoc.gov |
| Admission of liability | None — Instacart maintains its practices complied with the law |
Background: what the law requires
Two federal rules sit underneath this case. The first is the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enforced by the Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER). In plain English: an employer generally cannot treat job seekers differently because of citizenship or immigration status — it cannot prefer temporary visa holders over qualified U.S. workers, or build extra hurdles that only U.S. applicants must clear. The second rule is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enforced by the EEOC, which bars national-origin discrimination.
The PERM process is where those rules bite. Under the Permanent Labor Certification program, an employer that wants to sponsor a temporary visa holder for permanent resident status must first run a genuine recruitment effort for U.S. workers — not a formality with a pre-decided outcome. Under the Justice Department’s reading, that recruitment may not impose additional burdens on U.S. workers, run advertisements that disfavor them, or use processes that tend to deprive them of opportunities. The allegation is that Instacart’s mail-in-only rule for PERM-advertised jobs did exactly that, at a company whose normal hiring ran on electronic applications.
Instacart is not the first large technology company to face this theory. The Associated Press notes that Apple agreed to a $25 million settlement in 2023 and Facebook agreed to pay $14 million in 2021 over similar claims about PERM hiring practices.
Timeline
- December 2023 — Start of the period covered by the settlement fund; the challenged PERM practices were in effect, per the agencies.
- 2025 — The Justice Department re-launches its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative; the EEOC pursues related enforcement under Project Firewall.
- February 2026 — End of the period covered by the settlement fund.
- August 2026 — The Justice Department announces a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI over similar allegations, which OpenAI denied (Reuters).
- October 20, 2026 — The Justice Department and EEOC announce the $5,000,000 Instacart settlement.
Verified details
The factual core of the case, per the Justice Department, is narrow and specific: for positions advertised as part of PERM recruitment, Instacart required applications to be physically mailed. That departed from the company’s standard process, which allowed electronic applications, and “[a]s a result, many of the U.S. workers who applied were not timely considered.” The agencies said the evidence showed the practices intentionally discriminated against U.S. workers by preferring workers with temporary employment visas.
“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. “We will not stop fighting for U.S. workers until there is a fair playing field.”
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas added: “Today’s settlement makes clear that when employers erect unlawful barriers that harm American workers, the EEOC will act decisively.”
Instacart disputes the underlying claim. In a statement reported by Reuters, the company said: “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.” In a longer statement carried by the Associated Press, Instacart said it is “proud to be a U.S.-based grocery technology platform, employing thousands of American workers,” and that qualified U.S. candidates are “always first in line for opportunities.”
Why it matters
Instacart is one of the most visible brands in the gig economy, and the case underlines that the current federal enforcement push reaches well beyond how platforms classify or pay their delivery shoppers. This settlement concerns the company’s own hiring for jobs recruited through the green-card sponsorship system — the white-collar pipeline of a major platform company, not its contractor workforce.
It also shows the scale of the campaign. The deal is the fifteenth settlement the Civil Rights Division has reached since re-launching the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025; the Justice Department says the initiative has secured over $34 million in back pay and over $16 million in civil penalties since its original launch. The EEOC says this is its fourth public settlement involving anti-American national-origin discrimination since 2025, alongside five lawsuits pending in federal court. For any large employer that sponsors workers through PERM, the practical message is that the mechanics of recruitment — down to whether an application can be submitted online — are now an enforcement focus. Follow more coverage like this in our Tech & Consumer section.
What happens next
A claims administrator will contact potentially eligible people and determine who qualifies for back pay and compensatory damages. Until the administrator opens its own contact channel, the agencies ask affected applicants — including those deterred from applying — to email Instacart@eeoc.gov so their information can be passed along. Instacart must also implement the agreed changes and submit to monitoring and reporting. Workers with questions can call IER’s free hotline at 1-800-255-7688.
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Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs — “Civil Rights Division and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Secure $5,000,000 Joint Settlement with Instacart for Discriminating Against U.S. Workers,” October 20, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/civil-rights-division-and-equal-employment-opportunity-commission-secure-5000000-joint
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — companion press release, October 20, 2026: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/civil-rights-division-and-equal-employment-opportunity-commission-secure-5000000-joint
- Reuters — “Instacart settles US probe over foreign worker recruiting for $5 million,” October 20, 2026: https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/instacart-settles-us-probe-over-foreign-worker-recruiting-5-million-2026-10-20/
- Associated Press — “Instacart settles federal claims of discrimination against US-born job seekers,” October 20, 2026 (via KCAU): https://www.kcau9.com/news/business/ap-instacart-settles-federal-claims-of-discrimination-against-us-born-job-seekers/