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Instacart Agrees to Pay $5 Million Over Hiring Discrimination

By Drooid · Oct 20, 2026, 11:07 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Instacart agreed to pay $5 million to settle DOJ and EEOC discrimination claims.
$4 million of the settlement will fund payouts to applicants from December 2023 to February 2026.
Instacart will pay $1 million in civil penalties to the U.S. government.
The DOJ found Instacart required paper-only applications for PERM-linked H-1B roles, burdening U.S. applicants.
Instacart must post PERM jobs on its public career site and accept electronic applications.

History

Historical Context

The EEOC, created by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, has long used data-driven lawsuits—from the 1986 Sears gender-pay case to the 1998 Microsoft gender-discrimination settlement, where the agency reported 42 % of rejected applicants were women. That precedent helped shape Instacart’s 2024 $5 million DOJ/EEOC settlement, forcing the gig platform to digitize its hiring process.

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Story summary

Instacart agreed to pay $5 million to settle DOJ and EEOC discrimination claims.
$4 million of the settlement will fund payouts to applicants from December 2023 to February 2026.
Instacart will pay $1 million in civil penalties to the U.S. government.
The DOJ found Instacart required paper-only applications for PERM-linked H-1B roles, burdening U.S. applicants.
Instacart must post PERM jobs on its public career site and accept electronic applications.

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