Note: This is an update to our previous Alert on this subject.
The Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program continues to evolve rapidly. The SBA website now shows a simplified EIDL application process with a reduced number of forms that initially need to be submitted.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
On March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it is extending the filing periods covered by its previously enacted conditional reporting relief for certain public company filing obligations under the federal securities laws, and that it is also extending regulatory relief previously provided to funds and investment advisers whose operations may be affected by COVID-19. In addition, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued its current views regarding disclosure considerations and other securities law matters related to COVID-19.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued initial guidance on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which was signed into law on March 18, 2020. (For more information, see our prior Alert on the requirements of FFCRA.) The WHD’s guidance indicates that regulations are also forthcoming in April, but these regulations likely will not be issued before FFCRA takes effect.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on businesses right across the globe and with a third of the world now in lockdown, thousands of businesses have moved most of their workforce to remote working. Although working from home allows a business to continue operating, it brings significant security risks, placing a greater need to maintain compliance with relevant data security requirements.
Maintaining the security of company data is the responsibility of both the employer and employee and continuing to maintain appropriate security measures is critical at this time. To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris attorneys John M. Benjamin and Edward Pickard, which includes some key points for employees and businesses to keep data secure when working remotely, please visit the Duane Morris TechLaw Blog.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering low-interest, long-term loans to small businesses in states and territories of up to $2 million each to provide assistance to businesses located in a declared disaster area as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These loans are called “Economic Injury Disaster Loans” or EIDLs. These loans are intended to provide relief from substantial economic injury caused directly by the disaster to fund working capital needs and help small businesses survive until normal operations resume after a disaster.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, which reviews key “nuts and bolts” aspects of the application process for these loans, please visit the firm website.
In an industry of seemingly ever-tighter margins across the board, it is perhaps unsurprising that the construction industry has fought to continue through the current coronavirus crisis as much as it has. However, many in the industry have stopped work and shut down sites and, despite the current and perhaps somewhat over-optimistic view from the government that work can continue whilst still complying with social distancing rules, it seems inevitable that all non-essential work will stop very soon.
To read the full text of this post, please visit the Duane Morris Construction Law Blog.
On March 18, 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Senate Bill 8091 (the Act), which guarantees certain leave, benefits and job protections to employees affected by COVID-19, effective immediately.
To read the full text of this article by Duane Morris attorneys Eve Klein and Rebecca Ruffer, please visit the firm website.
As Philadelphia officials negotiate to use the former Hahnemann University Hospital as quarantine or isolation space during the coronavirus pandemic, City Councilmember Helen Gym is calling for the city to consider seizing the property by eminent domain. […]
The city or state would have the power to use eminent domain, through which the government can take ownership of property that is needed for public use. […]
Whether the city can benefit from using eminent domain may depend on whether it’s able to seize the temporary use of the property — such as through a lease — rather than having to buy the property outright. […]
But George Kroculick, an attorney specializing in eminent domain cases at law firm Duane Morris in Philadelphia, said the practice does not require public bodies to take ownership of property that they condemn.
To read more of Mr. Kroculick’s comments, please visit the Duane Morris website.
The COVID pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our daily lives. While the media has been rightly focused on the overwhelming effect on our health care system and impacts on hourly and tipped workers and small businesses, coverage of our country’s zoological institutions during this worldwide crisis has been largely absent. But the impact on zoological facilities across our country is real and profound. The loss of revenue from ticket and concession sales, special events, and donations will likely hamper zoo operations for the foreseeable future. Cash-strapped Americans may have less available funds to donate to non-profit organizations. But zoological institutions may have much more difficulty cutting costs and limiting operations than other types of businesses and face a much more severe financial impact from the pandemic.
To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris partner Michelle Pardo, please visit the Duane Morris Animal Law Developments Blog.
As countries grapple with the global threat of COVID-19, some are leveraging user location data and tracking apps to model potential contamination paths. China has tapped into its facial recognition tools to track the virus and has deployed drones that tell people to wear masks. Singapore has launched an app called TraceTogether which uses Bluetooth to determine who could be at risk of infection. And the United Kingdom is reportedly in talks with telecom providers on how to best use location data to stem the crisis.
But the coronavirus turning the world upside down does not mean companies can throw out the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as other privacy protections. Here’s how law experts and companies can comply with existing legal standards and new norms set by the pandemic.
Sandra Jeskie, Duane Morris’ team lead for the technology, media and telecom industry group, said in an email that businesses under GDPR or CCPA still have to comply with the laws unless the information they are sharing is anonymized or de-identified.
To read more of Ms. Jeskie’s comments from thsi article, please visit the Duane Morris website.
