'Be cautious' | Employers warned as DOJ offers incentives to DEI whistleblowers

A Justice Department bounty program that incentivizes employees to inform on their employers could lead to more whistleblowing as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The Trump administration is investigating major companies under the False Claims Act, a federal law the Justice Department uses to take action against contractors alleged to have defrauded the government and recoup substantial damages.

Last year, the Justice Department established a task force to investigate federal contractors for alleged violations of the False Claims Act. It said this week it has seen a "rapid increase" in whistleblower complaints filed in recent years.

Getting "ordinary people with access and knowledge to quasi-investigate and flag policies and practices for the government" is central to the Justice Department’s strategy, Elizabeth Bieber, Austin Evers, and Jennifer Loeb, lawyers with the Freshfields law firm, wrote in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance in July 2025.