Clifford Chance

Two-Sides Of The Coin: New DOJ Pilot Program Ties Employee Compensation To Compliance In Corporate Criminal Settlements

March 7, 2023

In furtherance of the U.S. Department of Justice's ("DOJ") new corporate criminal enforcement policy that has been rolled out through a series of speeches and guidance documents since October 2021, on March 3, 2023, Assistant Attorney General and head of the Criminal Division, Kenneth A. Polite Jr., provided details on DOJ's new three-year Pilot Program on Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks ("Pilot Program"), which Deputy Attorney General ("DAG") Lisa Monaco previewed on March 2, 2023. The Pilot Program includes new settlement undertakings requiring a company to adopt positive and/or negative incentives for employee bonus and performance evaluations, and offering credit towards settlement payments for clawing back compensation from responsible employees.

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