New law provides up to four hours of paid leave for vaccination: On March 12, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation entitling New York employees to up to four hours of paid leave to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, effective immediately ...
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more widely available, more employers are considering bringing their employees back to the office. In doing so, many employers have questions about whether or not they can require their employees to receive the vaccine before returning. Preliminary guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) suggests that employers can mandate vaccination ...
Last week upon final passage by Congress, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA or Act) into law.[1] The $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill provides a comprehensive package of available funds to qualifying individuals and businesses in the form of direct payments, industry-specific grants, and tax credits ...
In one of the latest and most high-profile decisions from across the country relating to commercial tenants’ rent obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected an attempt by The Gap, Inc. (“Gap”) to excuse payment of such obligations due to the pandemic and related government restrictions ...
On March 9, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 45-day extension of the public-comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. OCR first released the NPRM to the public on the HHS website on Dec. 10, 2020, and it was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 21, 2021 ...
Yesterday, the Department of Labor informally notified key stakeholders that it will soon be issuing new regulations concerning COVID-19. One expectation is that the regulations will require employers to not only implement COVID-19 prevention programs but also follow CDC guidelines ...
On March 10, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance for nursing homes to resume visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing homes have been devastatingly effected by COVID-19, with outbreaks causing high rates of infection and death ...
2020 was an especially active year for FCA enforcement. What does this tell us about compliance in the coming year? Bradley Government Enforcement and Investigations partners Jon Ferry, Ty Howard, and Brad Robertson discuss how the enforcement environment drives compliance, and the areas of risk companies need to focus on this year ...
In September 2020, a team of MIT researchers published a paper in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, testing the hypothesis that coronavirus carriers—even asymptomatic ones—could be accurately detected using artificial intelligence (AI) based on only a phone recording of a forced cough.If this hypothesis is correct, the COVID-19 test can be accessible to people worldwide ...
The Threats California is used to wildfires. But the Golden State's record-breaking 2020 wildfire season was particularly brutal. A blistering heat wave fueled dozens of simultaneous fires – conditions that spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a statewide state of emergency. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their residences. But, was not – and is not – the only threats California residents face ...
Hear directly from the CFPB about mortgage servicing in the COVID-19 era, including how the leadership transition is affecting the CFPB’s priorities and approach. From a webinar on March 3, Bradley hosted a Q&A session with Allison Brown of the CFPB's Office of Supervision Policy to discuss the CFPB’s supervisory expectations as the industry grapples with CARES implementation and other challenges arising from the coronavirus crisis ...
On Thursday, February 25, 2021, a Federal Court Judge in the Eastern District of Texas sided with a group of landlords by holding that the eviction moratorium instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unconstitutional by extending “far beyond the legitimate scope of federal power ...
By Michael Flynn, Doug Prince and Khaled Tarazi Buchalter’s February 16 COVID Alert (https://www.buchalter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FHA-VA-USDA-Foreclosure-and-Eviction-Moratoria-and-Forbearance-Application-Deadline-Extended-to-June-30.pdf) reported that the federal government had extended the FHA, VA and USDA timelines for single-family foreclosure and eviction moratoria and forbearance periods to June 30, 2021 ...
By Michael Flynn, Doug Prince and Khaled Tarazi On Thursday, February 25, a Federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that the CDC tenant eviction order is unconstitutional, but did not enjoin the order. The case was brought by seven Texas landlords against the CDC, challenging the CDC moratorium order. The CDC moratorium applies to tenants who, among other things, declare economic hardship and earned $99,000 or less in 2020 ($198,000 for couples) ...
Cal-OSHA’s COVID-19 regulation remains in effect after the trial court rejected a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by a coalition of employers. This included challenges to: (1) compensation for employees excluded from work; (2) mandated testing; and (3) health and safety requirements for employer-provided housing and transportation. Therefore, employers must continue to abide by the requirements of the emergency regulation ...
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman ruled yesterday that Cal/OSHA can continue to enforce its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Regulation (ETS), at least for now. On February 25, 2021, Judge Schulman issued an order denying Plaintiffs' applications for a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the Cal/OSHA's COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Regulation (ETS) in two cases ...
In 2020, telehealth went from promising ancillary issue to center stage in the healthcare industry. Regulators and law enforcement took notice. With enforcers’ attention now squarely on telehealth fraud and abuse, telehealth providers and companies are poised to be among the main targets for civil and criminal enforcement in the coming years. Webinar Recording Key Takeaways Telehealth is a key enforcement priority for federal and state enforcement agencies, including the U ...
This week, Westlaw Today published an article by Dinsmore partner J.T. Wilson III about the generational shift in attitudes toward racial equity in light of George Floyd's death and about how business owners and employers must react accordingly ...
As you already know, COVID-19 changed almost everything, and some of those things are likely here to stay (or at least linger for a while longer). One widespread change is the increased use of videoconferencing. In early 2020, a videoconference was a rarity, but now we Zoom in and out of classrooms, work meetings, and court appearances. Not surprisingly, the virtual world has reached the doctor’s office ...
As we near the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, trademark maintenance deadlines in 2021 create new obstacles for registrants. To maintain a federal trademark registration, registrants must periodically file an affidavit of use under Section 8, swearing that the mark is in use in commerce or that the registrant has an acceptable excuse for nonuse. Recent office actions show that the U.S ...
Virginia is now the first state in the nation to enact permanent COVID-19 workplace safety and health standards. In late January, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) adopted the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) Program. The program promulgates a new standard that supersedesVirginia’s Emergency Temporary Standard from July 2020 ...
Following last week’s FHFA announcement extending the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac foreclosure and eviction moratoria and their deadlines for applying for COVID-related forbearance, the White House announced on February 16 that FHA, VA, and USDA will extend their single-family residential foreclosure and eviction moratoria, and their deadlines for applying for COVID-related forbearance, to June 30, 2021 ...
Like every other higher education leader, I spent most of the last 10 months reacting to the operational imperatives driven by the COVID-19 crisis. Each day presented a novel crisis, and just when we thought we’d see no more plot twists, a new one emerged. In the midst of that maelstrom and as the state’s higher education chief, I often found myself trying to find elusive time to process what these daily crises meant for our enterprise over the long term ...
In January 2021, the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) announced $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries for fiscal year 2020, which ended on September 30.[1] Although this amount is substantial, it nonetheless represents the smallest recovery figure in 10 years. These figures reflect the Trump administration’s unaggressive enforcement efforts and its restrictive view of the FCA. As recently as 2016, FCA recovery exceeded $4.5 billion. Recoveries in 2019 were $3 ...
