On March 18, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released two technical assistance documents to help inform what each agency views as “unlawful” discrimination related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the workplace. These documents offer critical insights into how the EEOC and DOJ will interpret and enforce laws related to DEI programming, highlighting the need for employers to ensure compliance.
On January 22, 2025, the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of seven individuals in the largest Employee Retention Credit fraud scheme to date. According to the indictment, the defendants filed more than 8,000 refund claims for ERCs and Sick and Family Leave Credits, totaling more than $600 million.
On October 29, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a proposed rule to implement US President Joe Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 14117. This order aims to prevent countries of concern from accessing Americans’ sensitive personal data and US-government-related data. The proposal specifically includes health data as a category of sensitive personal data that could be exploited. Health insurers, service providers to health plans, and healthcare providers should review this proposed rule closely.
The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Justice recently published new proposed rules that update and create various requirements under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. What are some of the biggest changes?
During speeches on March 2 and 3, 2023, at the American Bar Association National Institute on White Collar Crime, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. and other US government officials announced significant changes to the US Department of Justice’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs and continued to emphasize the importance of effective and robust compliance policies. These changes come on the heels of DOJ’s recent announcement of a single corporate voluntary self-disclosure policy for every US Attorneys’ Office nationwide, and are simply the latest evidence of the Biden Justice Department’s substantial focus on corporate criminal enforcement.
Recently, President Joe Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, which provides a mechanism for industry and academia to access and research cannabis (including marijuana and other cannabis-derived products) without violating the Controlled Substances Act. This legislation creates a pathway for researchers to register with the US Department of Justice to legally conduct scientific research on such products subject to certain requirements. It also creates a system to allow drug manufacturers to legally produce products approved by the US Food and Drug Administration that contain cannabidiol or marijuana for commercial sale. The legislation also includes a doctor-patient relationship provision that permits state-licensed physicians to discuss the “currently known potential harms and benefits of marijuana and its derivatives, including cannabidiol, which may be derived from marijuana or other cannabis products such as hemp, as a treatment,” which may be of significant interest for healthcare providers.
In this three-part podcast series focusing on healthcare governance, McDermott Partner Michael Peregrine joins the American Health Law Association to discuss a range of governance issues, including the following:
The board’s executive compensation committee is the focus point for many of the extraordinary financial, economic and operating challenges currently facing healthcare organizations. Executive compensation increases are impacted by both an inflationary economy and significant revenue downturn. In addition, the US Department of Justice has identified executive compensation as an important conduit through by which corporate compliance incentives and deterrence can be implemented. Furthermore, executive recruitment and retention amidst the “Great Resignation” remains a key compensation concern.
These and similar issues have become important agenda items for the board’s executive compensation Committee. Michael Peregrine is joined by industry experts Tim Cotter and Ralph DeJong for the first in a two-part conversation about the impact of the developments on the compensation committee, including:
The US Supreme Court will hear a whistleblower’s False Claims Act suit that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had previously moved to throw out. In this Law360 article, McDermott Partner Tony Maida offers perspective about the DOJ’s 2018 Granston memo.
“It does not make sense for the government to need to justify its decision to dismiss a case brought on its behalf,” Maida said. “Reducing the ability of DOJ to dismiss cases would erase some of those positive results of the Granston memo.”
As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare fraud enforcement remains a top priority for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other government agencies with enforcement authority. In this Westlaw Today article, McDermott Partners Laura McLane, Tony Maida and Dana M. McSherry describe some of the areas that have assumed particularly high enforcement priority, including private equity, telehealth and pandemic relief funds.
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