On May 22, 2020, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) released a new interim final rule on the SBA’s process for reviewing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The May 22 interim final rule sets forth procedures relevant to both PPP loan borrowers and lenders in the context of review and audits of PPP loans.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
Due to COVID-19, FINRA has postponed all in-person arbitration and mediation hearings through July 31, 2020, and is offering remote hearing services using Zoom and teleconference. Parties considering a remote hearing should consider the pitfalls of such hearings―particularly that they may be an inadequate substitute for an in-person hearing or that they will provide another ground on which decisions may be challenged.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
On May 20, 2020, Chicago City Council passed two ordinances intended to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic: a COVID-19 anti-retaliation ordinance and an amendment to the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance, which provides employers with a six-month delay to the implementation of the private litigation rights provision of the ordinance.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
he Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued updated guidance on the requirement for certain employers to record cases of COVID-19 that will become effective on May 26, 2020. All employers who are required to keep OSHA injury and illness logs—not just healthcare employers, corrections facilities and emergency-response providers—must now determine whether employees’ confirmed COVID-19 cases are reportable.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
On May 14, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finally published guidance in the form of a one-page workplace decision tree. Although the document―entitled “Workplaces During the COVID-19 Pandemic”―provides high-level recommendations for employers to consider when reopening, it largely defers to state and local guidance and is a far cry from the substantially more detailed guidance documents that the CDC reportedly had been considering in recent weeks.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
On 20 April the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the UK Government would launch the Future Fund as part of the British Business Bank Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. The Future Fund is intended to provide support to the UK’s innovative companies with good potential, for which we might read start-ups, growth companies or emerging companies.
To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris partner Sam Pearse, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
On May 19th, Governor Tom Wolf announced that businesses and employees in the real estate industry may conduct limited business-related activities statewide and provided guidance for this industry to operate in red phase and yellow phase counties.
To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris partner Brad Molotsky, please visit the Duane Morris Project Development/Infrastructure/P3 Blog.
On May 15, 2020, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration released the Loan Forgiveness Application for the Paycheck Protection Program. Borrowers are required to complete the application and submit it to their lenders in order to apply for loan forgiveness. This Alert discusses the Loan Forgiveness Application, as well as some clarifications regarding the rules for loan forgiveness contained within the application.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
Paycheck Protection Program loan borrowers for application of the 500-employee limit provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The interim final rule provides a safe harbor for applications submitted prior to May 5, 2020, that did not include non-U.S. resident employees in the headcount determination, notwithstanding the prior guidance that was issued requiring that they be included.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, which discusses the interim final rule and its impact on businesses with foreign affiliates, please visit the firm website.
On 14 May 2020, the UK Government extended the temporary suspension of wrongful trading liability until 30 June 2020.
On 28 March this year, the Government announced that it would “at the earliest opportunity“ introduce legislation, retrospective to 1 March 2020, to relax the insolvency rules which can make directors of limited liability companies potentially liable if they continue to trade and incur liabilities when they knew or ought to have concluded that there was no reasonable prospect of avoiding an insolvent liquidation or administration.
To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris partner Linda Crow, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
