In less than a week, SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that leads to COVID-19, has upended American lives and livelihoods.But while many are taking an unwanted break from business as usual, “essential businesses” are working overtime to rise to the critical call of keeping Americans healthy, safe, and fed while the nation shuts down and the virus spreads. First, each business must determine whether – and to what extent – it is essential ...
In accordance with the CDC’s guidance on social distancing, more and more companies are increasing the number of employees working from home. As the number of employees working from home increases, so do the related cyber risks. Sophisticated hackers have developed a game plan for exploiting weaknesses unique to the remote workforce employment model ...
Businesses preparing to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic and the essential businesses that have remained open through the pandemic should make a good faith effort to implement health and safety measures recommended by the federal, state, and local authorities to protect themselves from potential premises liability claims from third-parties such as customers and other non-employees entering the premises ...
A recent COVID-19 outbreak at a King County, Washington state long-term care skilled nursing facility led to numerous cases and deaths among residents and visitors. Most likely as a result of continued and growing cases of COVID-19 at skilled nursing and long-term care facilities, on April 5, 2020, Cal/OSHA published Interim Guidance for Protecting Workers at Skilled Nursing and Long-term Care Facilities from Exposure to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) ...
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and its resulting adverse effects on the income levels of Michigan residents, a package of bills (2020 SB 912 through 2020 SB 917) was introduced earlier this month to provide additional protections for residential tenants and owner-occupants during a declared state of emergency ...
The regulatory change proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the recent HIPAA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is another step toward HHS’s objective to encourage a patient-centric healthcare environment. The HIPAA NPRM proposes to tilt the balance of protecting privacy and facilitating the availability of information toward loosening restrictions on disclosures of patient information ...
This is not a coronavirus update, but as you can expect, the number of Prop. 65 filings has not decreased significantly during the pandemic. Between March 2nd and April 14th, there were four hundred sixty-nine (469) 60-Day Notices of Violation filed, compared to five hundred ten (510) 60-Day Notices filed between January 1st and March 1st. As you may know, California’s courts are not likely to re-open until around June 1st ...
Key Points HHS Provider Relief Fund payments are being extended to private pay assisted living facilities under Phase II. Relief will be equal to 2 percent of annual gross revenue from resident care. Interested providers must act swiftly: the deadline to submit basic information to HHS is Sept. 13 Provider relief funds need not be repaid if recipients comply with the program criteria. HHS Announcement: On Sept.1, the U.S ...
On October 14, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced a $25 million healthcare fraud settlement against a private equity firm and former executives of the firm’s portfolio company. The settlement is significant because it is the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the country to date against a private equity firm based on the firm’s oversight of its healthcare portfolio company ...
As soon as we began to shelter-in-place during the COVID-19 crisis, most of us also started to hold virtual meetings, both professional and personal, as a better, more satisfying way to connect. For this, we turned en masse to a handful of video conferencing platforms. However, while we can all agree that these services help us do our jobs and stay in touch with loved ones, these services raise many novel privacy and security concerns ...
Following up on Dykema’s alert from June 18, 2020, President Trump signed a Proclamation that extends his April 22, 2020, 60-day ban on immigrant workers entering the United States until December 31, 2020. In addition, it also added those with H-1B, H-2B, L-1 and J-1 visas and any foreign national accompanying them to this ban. The Proclamation states this was done to address, in part, high unemployment levels due to the coronavirus pandemic ...
On February 24, 2017, President Trump issued another executive order designed to further his administration’s agenda to reduce regulations. Entitled “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” the executive order continues to make clear that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people ...
After stating he planned on issuing an Executive Order earlier this week, President Trump yesterday issued a proclamation barring intending immigrants from the United States for 60 days beginning at 11:50 p.m. on April 23, 2020. It states it is intended to help U.S. workers facing high levels of unemployment due to the Coronavirus ...
Following up on his recent tweet to temporarily halt all immigration to the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump announced his upcoming Executive Order would be limited to those people seeking permanent resident status in the United States (“green cards”) and would last for 60 days. This will apparently not apply to those seeking to enter the United States on non-immigrant visas ...
On June 5, 2020, President Trump signed H.R.7010, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (the “PPPFA”). The PPPFA modifies the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to provide additional flexibility to borrowers in using PPP loan proceeds and obtaining forgiveness for their loans by the Small Business Administration (the “SBA”) ...
President Trump signed H.R.266, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (the “PPP/HCE Act”) this afternoon following passage of the bill by both houses of Congress. The PPP/HCE Act provides additional funding for small business loan and grant programs administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ...
President Joe Biden announced Thursday, Sept. 9, that in the coming weeks, companies with 100 or more employees will be required to ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week.[1] Additionally, employers must provide employees time off to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects. Press Secretary Jen Psaki previewed the forthcoming requirements in her briefing to the press on Thursday ...
This first alert of a multipart series provides practical tips to minimize legal risk arising from the following legal perils that await any unprepared or ill-informed employer. As the world’s information about the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) continues to quickly update, employers must remain aware of the many potential legal risks that can rapidly arise when grappling with COVID-19 in U.S.-based workplaces and workforces ...
This second alert of a multipart series provides practical tips to minimize legal risk arising from the following legal perils that await any unprepared or ill-informed employer. As the world’s information about the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) continues to quickly update, employers must remain aware of the many potential legal risks that can rapidly arise when grappling with COVID-19 in U.S.-based workplaces and workforces ...
Businesses that open their doors to customers, guests, and other visitors during the pandemic must be vigilant, not only to keep their premises safe to those who enter, but also to avoid lawsuits by individuals who claim they contracted COVID-19 on business premises ...
On December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) was enacted which, among other things, reauthorized lending under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to first-time borrowers (“First Draw PPP Loans”) and for second draws by certain borrowers who have previously received PPP loans (“Second Draw PPP Loans”) ...
Last week, the SBA issued guidance concerning the rights of independent contractors with respect to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans. First, the SBA clarified that employers cannot include compensation paid to independent contractors in calculating their own loan amount. Second, the SBA announced that independent contractors and self-employed individuals will be eligible to apply for a PPP loans starting April 10, 2020 ...
