Instacart to Pay $5 Million Over Alleged Bias Against U.S. Job Applicants | What California Law Says
- Tom Feher, Esq.
On October 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a $5 million joint settlement with Maplebear Inc., the San Francisco-based company that operates Instacart. The agencies alleged that from December 2023 through February 2026, Instacart’s recruiting for jobs tied to the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process favored workers on temporary visas: U.S. applicants for those positions were required to mail paper applications, while the company’s standard process accepted electronic ones, and many were not considered in time. According to the release, Instacart agreed to fund up to $4 million for affected applicants, pay a $1 million civil penalty, post PERM positions on its public careers page, accept electronic applications, train staff, and submit to monitoring. The EEOC’s release lists the same terms. Neither release stated whether Instacart admitted wrongdoing.
The case is a reminder that hiring discrimination claims in California do not depend on which group was favored. Here is what the law says for job applicants who believe a process was built to screen them out.
Tom’s Opinion
“Discrimination law protects a characteristic, not a side. National origin and citizenship status are protected whether the person passed over was born in Guadalajara or Glendale, and people get that backwards all the time. The other thing applicants get wrong is believing that hiring cases are impossible to prove because you never see inside the process. You rarely need a confession. A different application procedure for one group, a posting nobody could find, or a rejection that does not match the stated qualifications is the kind of pattern evidence these cases are built on.”
Thomas Feher, Esq. · Founding Attorney, Feher Law APC · 50+ jury trials to verdict · $170M+ recovered
What California Law Says
Applicants are protected, not just employees
The Fair Employment and Housing Act makes it unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire a person because of national origin or ancestry under Government Code section 12940(a). The statute covers applicants and training programs, not only people already on payroll, and it applies to private employers with five or more employees under Government Code section 12926(d). A recruiting process that is harder to complete for one national-origin group than another can violate the law even when no one ever says a word about where an applicant is from. Our overview of California discrimination laws lists every protected characteristic.
Federal law adds citizenship status
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. section 2000e-2(a), prohibits refusing to hire or classifying applicants in a way that limits their opportunities because of national origin. The Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. section 1324b, separately bars employers with four or more employees from discriminating in hiring or firing based on citizenship status against U.S. citizens, nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees. That is the statute the Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section enforces, and a charge under it must be filed within 180 days of the practice.
Deadlines run from the rejection, not from discovering a pattern
A complaint with the Civil Rights Department (CRD) must be filed within three years of the unlawful practice under Government Code section 12960(e)(5). Once CRD issues a right-to-sue notice, Government Code section 12965 gives you one year to file in court. A federal EEOC charge must be filed within 300 days in California, according to the EEOC’s filing deadlines. The clock starts with the rejection or the hiring decision, even if you only learned later that others were treated differently.
If This Happened to You or a Loved One
If you applied for a job in California and believe the process was designed to screen out people like you, here is what to do:
- Save the posting and every step of the application. Screenshot the job listing, the application instructions, confirmation emails, mailing receipts, and any rejection. Postings tied to visa sponsorship are often removed quickly.
- Write down the timeline. The date you applied, the date you heard back, who you spoke to, and what they said. Every deadline is counted from these dates.
- Ask for the reason in writing. A short, polite email asking why you were not selected creates a record. A stated reason that later changes is evidence.
- Do not sign a release without review. Settlement or severance offers from employers routinely waive discrimination claims you may not know you have.
- If you applied to Instacart between December 2023 and February 2026, the agencies’ release says applicants and deterred applicants can email Instacart@eeoc.gov so the information reaches the claims administrator, who decides eligibility. Workers with questions about citizenship-status discrimination can also call the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section hotline at 1-800-255-7688.
- Talk to an employment lawyer before the deadlines pass. Our Los Angeles workplace discrimination lawyers evaluate hiring and national origin claims at no charge, and the discrimination settlement calculator gives a rough range of what these cases resolve for. You pay nothing unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. National origin is protected for everyone under FEHA and Title VII, and federal law also prohibits citizenship-status discrimination against U.S. citizens, nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees. The law does not ask which group was favored. It asks whether the employer treated you worse because of where you or your family are from, or because of your citizenship status.
PERM is the Permanent Labor Certification process an employer uses to sponsor a foreign worker for a green card. Before certification, the employer must recruit U.S. workers in good faith for the position. The Instacart allegations centered on that step: the agencies said the recruiting was structured so U.S. applicants were not timely considered. If you applied to a PERM-advertised job and never heard back, that history matters.
Hiring cases are built on pattern evidence more than direct statements. A separate or harder application process for one group, a posting that was hard to find, a stated qualification you clearly met, or a less qualified hire with a different background can all support a claim. Keep every document. In litigation, a lawyer can obtain the employer's applicant data and internal communications.
Three years from the rejection to file with the Civil Rights Department (CRD) under Government Code section 12960, then one year from the right-to-sue notice to file in court. A federal EEOC charge must be filed within 300 days, and a citizenship-status charge with the Justice Department within 180 days. The shorter deadlines matter if you want to keep federal claims, so do not wait.
The release says the fund is for applicants and deterred applicants affected by the PERM-related practices between December 2023 and February 2026, and that a claims administrator will decide eligibility for back pay and compensatory damages. If you believe you qualify, email Instacart@eeoc.gov so the agencies can forward your information. Feher Law is not involved in that settlement and cannot determine eligibility.
Lost wages and benefits from the job you should have received, emotional distress damages, and, where the employer acted with malice or conscious disregard, punitive damages. FEHA also allows a court to award attorney's fees to a prevailing applicant or employee, which is why these cases can be handled on contingency. Amounts depend on the pay of the position and how long you were out of work.
Last reviewed by Thomas Feher, Esq., October 2026
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This article is for general information and is not legal advice for any specific matter.
