SF’s Instacart to pay $5M over Trump admin’s claims of US worker discrimination

Maplebear, the parent company of the San Francisco-based online delivery outfit Instacart, has agreed to pay$5 million to settle allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers by preferring to instead hire people with temporary work visas.

Read more Meta strikes deal with Zuckerberg to keep him in Calif. over billionaire tax

The Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlementon Tuesday. It will require Instacart to pay a $1 million civil penalty and establish a $4 million fund to compensate “applicants affected by the discriminatory practices,” which allegedly occurred between December 2023 and February 2026, according to a news release.

Per the DOJ, Instacart is alleged to have “created additional burdens on U.S. workers to apply for job opportunities,” in part by requiring some American applicants to mail back documentation, rather than send it electronically. “As a result,” the release states, “many of the U.S. workers who applied were not timely considered.”

In a statement to SFGATE, Instacart’s Chief Legal & Global Affairs Officer Morgan Fong denied any wrongdoing, saying: “While we maintain that our practices complied with all ‌applicable ⁠laws and regulations, we’re pleased to have resolved this matter.” Campbell added that the company does “not target or prefer foreign nationals for roles, and we hire the most qualified candidates based on skills, need, and experience.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has consistently taken what has beendescribed by the National Immigration Law Center as anti-immigrant views, pursuing mass deportations and alleging visa fraud within the current legal immigration framework. That has put the administration at odds with major universities and U.S. tech giants like Microsoft.

Read more $4M allocated to fix 360-foot crack threatening Pacific Coast Highway

Tuesday’s announcement also comes as the Trump administration has shifted the priorities for the EEOC, which was created in 1964 to help fight employment discrimination, such as anti-Black hiring practices during the Jim Crow era. The Trump administration has used the commission to instead investigate claims of anti-white bias, even urging “white male” workers to file any perceived claims of discrimination. At the end of June, the EEOC filed a complaint against popular Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market, alleging that the company discriminated against non-Chinese employees and terminated some employees based on their race.

This story has been updated to change the attribution of Instacart’s statement to SFGATE.