The Trump administration has given employers fretting they might become targets of its illegal immigration crackdown an additional reason to worry—their own employees have a new incentive to rat them out.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice added immigration law violations to the list of white-collar corporate-crime tips eligible for reward under its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, or CWAP, launched last year by the Biden administration.
The DOJ program may provide tipsters up to 30% of the first $100 million in net proceeds forfeited by corporations successfully prosecuted for crimes. Amounts above that—up to $500 million—may entitle a whistleblower to 5% of net proceeds.
"CWAP incentivizes employees to blow the whistle on perceived immigration issues at their employer because the whistleblower can receive a monetary award based on a successful DOJ prosecution," said Gregory Keating, a Littler Mendelson shareholder and author of the book "Whistleblowing and Retaliation."
Polls show many Americans are fed up with illegal immigration, a frustration that employment lawyers say may leave many inclined to expose potential violations they've witnessed.
"The stakes for noncompliance with federal immigration law have just increased exponentially," warns Jorge Lopez, chair of Littler Mendelson's immigration and global mobility practice.
When launched last August the DOJ's whistleblower program focused on crimes involving financial institutions, health...
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