San Francisco-based Instacart has agreed to a $5 million (yaani 50 lakh dollars) settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in its hiring for jobs sponsored through the permanent labor certification, or PERM, process, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

The PERM process lets an employer hire a temporary visa holder and sponsor that worker for permanent resident status, provided the employer has also made a good-faith effort to hire U.S. workers, the Associated Press reported. The Justice Department said its Civil Rights Division and the EEOC found evidence that Instacart's PERM recruitment intentionally discriminated against U.S. and American workers based on citizenship status and national origin, in violation, respectively, of the Immigration and Nationality Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

According to the agencies, as reported by the Associated Press, Instacart created a burden for U.S. workers by requiring that applications for PERM-listed jobs be physically mailed to the company, while Instacart allows electronic applications in its standard job recruitment. Summaries of the settlement terms say up to $4 million (yaani 40 lakh dollars) will form a fund for people who applied, or were deterred from applying, between December 2023 and February 2026, and $1 million (yaani 10 lakh dollars) is a civil penalty paid to the United States.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said the resolution was the fifteenth settlement the division has reached under its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative. 'We will not stop fighting for U.S. workers until there is a fair playing field,' Dhillon said in the Justice Department statement.

Instacart, whose legal name is Maplebear Inc., said on Tuesday that its hiring practices complied with U.S. laws and regulations, but that it agreed to the settlement in order to remain focused on its business, the Associated Press reported. The company said it is proud to be a U.S.-based grocery technology platform employing thousands of American workers. The settlement resolves the agencies' allegations; it is not a court judgment that Instacart broke the law. Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, October 20, 2026; Associated Press via KCAU 9, October 20, 2026.