After the nearly $350 billion in funds allocated to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the CARES Act were depleted in mid-April, Congress has approved an additional $310 billion in funds for the program. These additional funds arrive after a wave of backlash over certain businesses, such as national chains, received PPP loans ...
On April 26, 2020, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance to add six new symptoms of COVID-19. Based on this update, individuals should be cognizant of the new symptoms while self-monitoring for COVID-19 and employers should update their employee health screening procedures ...
On April 23, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released new guidance that permits employers to test employees for COVID-19. In an update to its publication, “What You Should Know about COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and other EEO Laws,”[1] the EEOC advised that an employer “may choose to administer COVID-19 testing to employees before they enter the workplace to determine if they have the virus ...
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act allocated $100 billion to the United States Health and Human Services Department (“HHS”) to provide financial relief for eligible health care providers. The first $30 billion of what is now known as the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund was released earlier in April. This initial wave was allocated among providers in proportion to their 2019 Medicare fee-for-service payments ...
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia upheld the constitutionality of the Workplace Freedom Act in a 5-0 decision, with one justice dissenting in part. The decision removes the cloud over the state’s right-to-work law, which was passed in 2016 but was enjoined by a trial court for a substantial period of time, determined to be unconstitutional, in part, by the same trial court and now takes full effect ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a burst of COVID-19-related guidance documents to facilitate expanded availability of medical products during the current public health emergency created by COVID-19. FDA-regulated products under these temporary policies include: PPE, diagnostic tests, hand sanitizers, disinfectant devices, remote monitoring devices, ventilators, and electronic thermometers for clinical use ...
On March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion emergency relief bill to ease the economic impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) and support response efforts. The CARES Act[1] included an allocation of $80 million in funding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue its COVID-19 response efforts. The additional agency funding will be used, in part, for the development of medical countermeasures and vaccines ...
What is it? The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a loan program geared toward small businesses dealing with the jarring disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). It is a part of the larger $2 trillion CARES Act and run through the Small Business Administration. It provides $350 billion in loans to help businesses keep their workforce employed during COVID-19 crisis. Who can apply? The PPP provides loans to business with fewer than 500 employees ...
The Supreme Court this past week denied certiorari in United States ex rel. Schneider v. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., an appeal from a D.C. Circuit case affirming the district court’s dismissal of a qui tam FCA action. See No. 19-678, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 2079 (Apr. 6, 2020). In so doing, the Court declined to address the emerging circuit split over the extent of the government’s dismissal power in qui tam cases ...
On April 13, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued guidelines on safety practices for critical workers who may have had exposure to a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 ...
On April 9, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued Q&As on COVID-19 issues. The EEOC has also updated its guidance during a pandemic for employers relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following are some highlights from these updates. Medical Inquiries and Exams In the updated guidance, the EEOC indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic meets the definition of a direct threat ...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, H.R. 748, ( CARES Act or Act), a $2 trillion stimulus bill the House passed by voice vote earlier the same day and the Senate passed on Wednesday, March 25, by a vote of 96-0. The CARES Act is the largest economic relief package in the history of the United States ...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law March 27, 2020, provides $2 trillion in relief funds for individuals and businesses, including $500 billion in direct aid for large companies and more than $300 billion for small companies. Businesses applying for and receiving funds under the CARES Act should be mindful of risks associated with stringent government oversight and inevitable investigations targeting waste, fraud, and abuse ...
The SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities recently released guidance providing that statements made by municipal issuers, such as public announcements, press releases, interviews with media representatives, and public reports, may be subject to the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10(b)-5 thereunder. On Feb. 7, 2020, the Office of Municipal Securities released Staff Legal Bulletin No ...
TOP STORY: Coronavirus (COVID-19) In recognition of the unique hardships presented by Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19, the SEC has issued a variety of relief orders across the securities industries. Many of these have come in the form of deadline exemptions or extensions. Our newsletter is focused on providing updates and information primarily concerning the investment advisory business ...
In an April 7, 2020 press release, the SEC Office of Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued two risk alerts. The first, involving examinations, focuses on compliance with Regulation Best Interest, and the second focuses on compliance with Form CRS. OCIE has released these two risk alerts to give investment advisers and broker-dealers advance notice as to what they can expect, in terms of scope and substance, during initial exams for compliance with the two initiatives ...
Under the CARES Act that was signed into law on March 27, 2020, $100 billion was allocated to “eligible health care providers” to provide financial relief for health care organizations in relation to the COVID-19 public health emergency ...
Boards of education should be aware of some upcoming deadlines regarding new WV State Department Policy 3300 and the introduction of the possibility of charter schools in West Virginia. As you may recall, new WV Code Sections 18-5G-1 through 18-5G-12 establish the process by which West Virginia will consider public charter schools. The Code Sections limit the number of new schools to three until July 1, 2023 ...
Physicians and medical professionals throughout the world are facing and attempting to treat one of the most serious and deadly viruses that has affected the world in our lifetime. Medical professionals are on the front lines and in a position, despite their best efforts to protect themselves, to contract the disease. Medical professionals do not only fear for their own lives but also for the lives of their family members if they unintentionally bring this disease home ...
As the country and the world grapple with the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the necessary steps governments, businesses, and citizens are taking to mitigate the crisis and the spread of COVID-19, businesses are dealing with an unprecedented slowdown and/or shutdown of operations across many economic sectors ...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a series of memoranda that discloses the department’s enforcement priorities and provides public guidance related to the ongoing coronavirus crisis ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed and lowered revenues, creating an unprecedented period of fiscal uncertainty for borrowers of tax-exempt debt. Borrowers forced to navigate these conditions may request lenders defer scheduled debt payments to help weather the storm. Borrowers and lenders of tax-exempt debt must be mindful that a deferral of scheduled payments may endanger the debt’s tax-exempt status ...
On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a temporary rule regarding the implementation of the emergency paid sick leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (“EFMLA”) requirements established by the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The DOL temporary rule covers significant ground in terms of delineating workers’ and employers’ rights and responsibilities under the FFCRA ...
The Novel Coronavirus continues to disrupt nearly every industry, including our own. In response to this and the various hardships and logistical headaches it has created, the SEC has issued certain exemptions affecting filing and delivery deadlines. For more information on this, see SEC Corona Virus Response. However, on April 2, the SEC announced that is not planning any similar actions regarding the implementation of Regulation Best Interest or Form CRS ...
On March 25, 2020, Governor Jim Justice signed into law House Bill 4925, which will take effect June 2, 2020. HB 4925 (W. Va. Code 18-2-25) provides that any student receiving home instruction pursuant to W. Va. Code 18-8-1(c), for at least one year proceeding the year proposing to be eligible, shall be eligible for participation in interscholastic athletic events and other extracurricular activities of public secondary schools serving the attendance zone in which the student lives ...
