The United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, in partnership with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, announced they have secured a $5,000,000 settlement with Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, a San Francisco, California-based online delivery service. The settlement addresses allegations that Instacart discriminated against U.S. and American workers based on citizenship status and national origin in violation, respectively, of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
Key details of the case
Specifically, the agencies uncovered evidence that Instacart’s hiring and recruitment practices undertaken as part of the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process intentionally discriminated against U.S. and American workers by preferring workers with temporary employment visas. A summary of the settlement terms may be found here. “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.
Moreover, 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. We will not stop fighting for U.S. workers until there is a fair playing field.”.
“Today’s settlement makes clear that when employers erect unlawful barriers that harm American workers, the EEOC will act decisively,” said Chair Andrea Lucas of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “The EEOC is committed to holding companies accountable when they deny equal work opportunities to U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs.
Enforcement actions and official statements
In addition, discrimination against workers based on their American national origin has no place in our economy.”. The Justice Department’s investigation found that Instacart created additional burdens on U.S. workers to apply for job opportunities by requiring that applications be physically mailed for positions advertised as part of PERM recruitment. EEOC’s investigation uncovered similar evidence. For complete details, refer to the official DOJ press release.
As a result, this practice departed from Instacart’s standard recruitment process, which allowed electronic applications. As a result, many of the U.S. workers who applied were not timely considered. . Under the terms of the settlement, Instacart will establish a settlement fund of up to $4,000,000 to compensate Instacart applicants as well as deterred applicants affected by the discriminatory practices from December 2023 to February 2026.
A claims administrator will contact potential aggrieved individuals and will determine eligibility for back pay and compensatory damages. Until the claims administrator establishes a contact email for potential victims, the DOJ and EEOC encourage applicants, as well as deterred applicants, to email Instacart@eeoc.gov if they believe they may be aggrieved so that agencies can share this information with the claims administrator. . In addition, Instacart will pay $1,000,000 in civil penalties to the United States. For related coverage, see DISH wireless LLC to pay more than $17m to resolve false claims act and administrative allegations related to FCC’s broadband benefits programs — DOJ.
Instacart is also required to give U.S. workers fair opportunities to apply for jobs as part of the PERM recruitment process by posting the positions on its public career website and accepting electronic applications. The agreement also requires Instacart to train personnel on its anti-discrimination obligations, revise its employment policies. Be subject to monitoring and reporting requirements, to prevent future discrimination. .
Specifically, the PERM program allows employers to sponsor temporary visa holders for permanent resident status after performing good-faith recruitment for U.S. workers. However, during this recruitment process, companies cannot illegally discriminate on the basis of citizenship status or national origin by creating additional burdens for U.S. and American workers. Publishing job advertisements that disfavor, limit, specify, or otherwise discriminate against U.S. and American workers; or use processes that limit, segregate, or classify applicants in any way that tends to deprive U.S. and American applicants of employment opportunities. . For related coverage, see What to know about: Britain to beam solar power from space to Antarctica in world-first energy gamble research base.
Subsequently, this settlement is the fifteenth reached since the Justice Department re-launched its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025 to enforce the INA’s prohibition on citizenship status discrimination against employers that illegally favor workers with employment visas over U.S. workers. Since the original launch of the Protecting U.S.
Workers Initiative during President Trump’s first administration, the Department has secured over $34 million in back pay for U.S. workers and obtained over $16 million in civil penalties from employers who discriminated against U.S. workers. Under these settlements, the Justice Department obtains civil penalties for each violation and will continue to seek the maximum penalty permitted by law. The settlements also involve awards of back pay, when warranted.
Require employers to conduct comprehensive training for relevant staff and recruiters and cease restricting consideration for job opportunities based on workers’ citizenship status without a lawful reason. For information about additional settlements under the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, visit IER’s website. .
As part of its work related to Project Firewall, the EEOC is protecting American workers by enforcing Title VII’s prohibition on national origin discrimination against employers that illegally favor foreign workers over workers of American national origin. In addition to five lawsuits currently pending in federal court, this is the fourth public settlement reached by EEOC involving anti-American national origin discrimination since 2025. For informal assistance, the public can call IER’s free hotline at 1-800-255-7688 for workers or at 1-800-255-8155 for employers (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired) between 9am and 5pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
