Instacart Parent Maplebear to Pay $5 Million to Settle US Foreign Worker Hiring Probe

Maplebear, the parent of grocery delivery company Instacart, agreed to pay $5 million to settle a federal investigation into claims it discriminated against American workers in its recruiting and hiring practices, the Justice Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday. The agencies said they found evidence Instacart favored hiring foreign workers through an employment-based green card program over Americans for unspecified jobs. Maplebear will pay $1 million in penalties and up to $4 million to affected applicants who applied between December 2023 and February 2026, and agreed to post foreign-worker job openings on its public website and accept electronic applications from Americans. Instacart said its practices complied with applicable laws but that it was pleased to resolve the matter. The settlement adds to more than a dozen similar deals reached by the Justice Department since last year, including a $3.2 million agreement with OpenAI announced in August.