Trump admin hits SF food delivery giant with heavy sanctions

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

The Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement. Tuesday. This 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 press release.

According to the DOJ, Instacart allegedly “created additional burdens on U.S. workers who want to apply for job opportunities,” in part by requiring some U.S. applicants to return their documents by mail, rather than sending them electronically. “As a result,” the statement said, “many U.S. workers who applied were not considered on time.”

In a statement to SFGATE, Morgan Fong, Instacart’s chief legal and global affairs officer, denied any wrongdoing, saying, “While we maintain that our practices were in compliance with all ‘applicable’ laws and regulations, we are pleased to have resolved this issue.” Campbell added that the company “does not target or prefer foreign nationals for positions, and we hire the most qualified candidates based on their skills, needs and experience.”

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

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

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