Accountability Issues

Covid Stimulus Watch provides accountability data on CARES Act and ARPA recipients in the following categories:

• Employment-related penalties

• Taxes and Subsidies

• Government contracting-related penalties

• Environmental, healthcare and safety-related penalties

• Consumer protection, financial misconduct and unfair competition-related penalties

• CEO Pay Practices

Here are details on the categories, including the criteria used to determine whether a company is highlighted in the accountability fields on the List of Awards.

Employment-related penalties: a company is highlighted if it has paid $1 million or more in penalties relating to wage theft, employment discrimination and related areas since 2010. See below for more details on the offenses included.

Taxes and Subsidies: a company is highlighted if it was found to be paying less than half the statutory corporate rate in 2018 OR if it has received $100 million or more in combined federal, state and local financial assistance prior to the pandemic in the period since 2010.

Government contracting-related penalties: a company is highlighted if it has paid $1 million or more in False Claims Act and related penalties since 2010.

Environmental, healthcare and safety-related penalties: a company is highlighted if it has paid $1 million or more in penalties for a variety of environmental, healthcare or safety violations since 2010. See below for more details on the offenses included.

Consumer protection, financial misconduct and unfair competition-related penalties: a company is highlighted if it has paid $1 million or more in penalties for violations relating to consumer protection, financial misconduct or unfair competition since 2010. See below for more details on the offenses included.

CEO Pay: a company is highlighted if the ratio of the compensation received by its chief executive to the median pay of its employees is higher than 100:1 OR, for smaller companies that do not report that ratio, if the CEO’s compensation is above $2 million. This data is available only for publicly traded firms.

The information related to these categories for each company is displayed in its individual award records and its parent company summary pages. Those pages display the penalty and other data, whether or not the criteria above are met.

Details on Penalty Categories

Employment-related penalties include the following offense types: wage and hour violations, employment discrimination violations, labor relations violations, benefit plan administrator violations, employment screening violations, Fair Credit Reporting Act violations, Family and Medical Leave Act violations, work visa violations and workplace whistleblower retaliation violations.

Government contracting-related penalties include the following offense types: False Claims Act and related violations as well as federal leasing royalty violations.

Environmental, healthcare and safety-related penalties include the following offense types: aviation safety violations, Clery Act campus security reporting violations, Controlled Substances Act violations, drug or medical equipment safety violations, energy conservation violations, environmental violations, food safety violations, fuel economy (CAFE) violations, HHS civil monetary penalties, Medicare Coverage Gap Discount Program violations, Medicare Parts C and D Enforcement Actions, mining violations, motor vehicle safety violations, nuclear safety violations, nursing home violations, off-label or unapproved promotion of medical products, offshore drilling violations, product safety violations, railroad safety violations, tobacco litigation, and workplace safety or health violations.

Consumer Protection, Financial Misconduct and Unfair Competition penalties include the following offense types: accounting fraud or deficiencies, agribusiness violations, Americans with Disabilities Act violations, anti-money-laundering deficiencies, aviation consumer protection violations, banking violations, bankruptcy professional violations, consumer protection violations, discriminatory practices (non-employment), economic sanction violations, energy market manipulation, energy market violations, export control violations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, foreign exchange market manipulation, fraud, housing code violations, insider trading, insurance violations, interest rate benchmark manipulation, investor protection violations, kickbacks and bribery, maritime violations, mortgage abuses, payday lending violations, price-fixing or anti-competitive practices, privacy violations, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act violations, tax violations, telecommunications violations, theft of trade secrets, toxic securities abuses, trade violations.