Instacart to Pay $5M Over Alleged Bias Against U.S. Workers

Instacart will pay $5 million to settle a federal investigation into allegations that the grocery delivery giant systematically favored foreign workers over qualified American job applicants, the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday. The joint settlement targets how the company recruited through a green-card sponsorship program — and marks the fifteenth such deal the Trump administration's DOJ says it has struck in defense of American workers.

File photo: An Instacart shopper bags groceries at a partner store. The DOJ settlement concerns the company's hiring practices for sponsored jobs — not its delivery shoppers. (Getty Images, 2022)

Grocery delivery giant Instacart has agreed to hand over $5 million to resolve claims that it discriminated against American workers in its recruiting and hiring, federal officials announced Tuesday, in the latest enforcement action under President Donald Trump's push to crack down on what he calls widespread abuse of foreign worker visa programs.

The settlement, between Maplebear Inc. — Instacart's parent company — and both the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, addresses allegations that the San Francisco-based company steered its hiring away from qualified U.S. applicants and toward foreign workers it intended to sponsor for permanent residency.

What the Investigation Found

At the center of the case is the Permanent Labor Certification process, known as PERM — a Department of Labor program that allows U.S. employers to sponsor foreign workers for green cards, but only after they demonstrate a genuine effort to recruit qualified American workers first.

According to the DOJ and EEOC, Instacart's hiring and recruitment practices during that process intentionally discriminated against U.S. and American workers by preferring workers on temporary employment visas. The allegations cite violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act's citizenship-status protections and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's ban on national-origin discrimination.

Federal officials said they uncovered evidence that the company required American applicants to submit job applications through traditional mail — rather than the electronic application system it ordinarily used — a practice they alleged placed unnecessary obstacles in the path of U.S. job seekers while the company pursued foreign workers through the green-card program.

The investigation covered job applicants between December 2023 and February 2026, a period of more than two years during which the alleged practices were in effect.

The Settlement Terms

Under the agreement, Maplebear will pay a total of $5 million. Of that, up to $4 million goes into a compensation fund for affected applicants — people who applied for the jobs between December 2023 and February 2026, as well as people who say they were deterred from applying. The remaining $1 million is a civil penalty paid to the United States government.

Beyond the money, Instacart agreed to overhaul its hiring practices. The company must post job openings tied to the PERM process on its public website and accept electronic applications from American job seekers. It will also provide anti-discrimination training and submit to federal monitoring to ensure compliance.

The agencies have asked anyone who believes they were affected during the covered period to contact them — the EEOC has designated Instacart@eeoc.gov as the contact point until a claims administrator sets up a dedicated channel.

Instacart's Response

Instacart, in a statement provided by a spokesperson, said the company encourages qualified U.S. job seekers to apply for open roles and seeks to attract broad pools of candidates. The company maintains that its practices were lawful.

"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.

The settlement is not about the company's delivery shoppers, the agencies' materials make clear — it concerns hiring for jobs the company recruited for through the PERM sponsorship process, not gig delivery work.

The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. (File photo)

A Wider DOJ Crackdown

The Instacart deal is the latest in a growing string of enforcement actions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said the agreement is the fifteenth settlement her division has reached under her leadership aimed at protecting U.S. workers.

"This significant resolution marks the fifteenth settlement agreement the Civil Rights Division has reached under my leadership to protect U.S. workers," Dhillon said. "Our record demonstrates that the Justice Department is holding companies who prefer workers with temporary employment visas accountable. We will not stop fighting for U.S. workers until there is a fair playing field."

Since last year, the Justice Department has compiled more than a dozen settlements with companies accused of discriminating against Americans, including a $3.2 million deal with OpenAI announced in August. OpenAI, like Instacart, denied that it discouraged Americans from applying for jobs. The EEOC has separately announced a handful of its own settlements and lawsuits against companies accused of bias against American workers.

Trump has made the enforcement campaign a signature piece of his labor and immigration agenda, arguing that foreign worker visa programs are routinely abused at the expense of American citizens. His administration's tally, according to one report, has secured more than $34 million in back pay and $16 million in civil penalties since 2025 under the DOJ's Protecting U.S. Workers initiative.

What This Means

For employers, the Instacart settlement is a signal that the government's scrutiny of PERM recruiting practices is not slowing down — and that companies with two-track application systems, even small differences like paper versus electronic applications, can face federal action.

For job seekers, it opens a potential compensation window: anyone who applied — or was discouraged from applying — for an Instacart job recruited through the PERM process between December 2023 and February 2026 may be eligible for a share of the $4 million fund.

For the broader labor debate, the case sits at the intersection of immigration policy and worker protection that has defined much of Trump's second term. The administration frames these cases as defending American workers from being edged out; business groups counter that green-card sponsorship is essential to filling specialized roles, though the DOJ says the violations here are about how recruitment was conducted, not about hiring foreign workers per se.

An Instacart shopper outside a partner store. The company says it encourages qualified U.S. job seekers to apply for open roles. (Instacart press photo)

What Happens Next

A claims administrator will be appointed to manage the compensation fund, and eligible applicants will be contacted — or can reach out to the agencies — to file claims. Instacart will meanwhile implement its new hiring requirements under federal monitoring.

The DOJ has signaled the campaign will continue. With the midterm elections just two weeks away, the administration is likely to keep touting these worker-protection settlements as evidence it is delivering on its promises to American workers — and more companies could find their recruiting practices under the microscope.