If your business has fewer than 50 employees, you may qualify for the small business exemption to a portion of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).  Specifically, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or childcare unavailability if those FFCRA leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.  In other words, the small business exemption only excuses the employer from providing paid leave for reason no. 5 on the official FFCRA Notice, which all ...

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Assistance Security Act (“CARES Act”), signed into law on March 27, 2020, provides significant relief provisions for small businesses by making changes to certain tax provisions enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”). This client alert briefly summarizes these changes which may provide relief to businesses immediately, prospectively and retroactively. In addition, we will share some insights on the practical applications of these rules to help you identify which may be relevant to your business.

• Net Operating ...

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to extend the requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to employees working within the City of Los Angeles for employers that employ 500 or more persons in the United States. The ordinance applies to all employees who have been employed with the same employer from February 3, 2020 through March 4, 2020, and provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave benefits to full-time workers calculated based on the employee’s average two week pay over the period of February 3, 2020 through March 4, 2020. Employees who work less than 40 hours per ...

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was signed into law, and it includes significant relief provisions for small businesses. Our previous articles summarized the new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and the expansion of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) Program. 

This client alert provides new information regarding PPP loan and EIDL applications. Given this subject’s urgency and the complexity of the CARES Act, this is simply a short summary to provide you a starting point for exploring relief which ...

On March 6, 2020, Congress passed an act deeming the COVID-19 pandemic a disaster eligible for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) Program.  On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was signed into law, providing significant relief provisions for small businesses, including user-friendly modifications to the EIDL Program.   

This client alert briefly summarizes certain provisions which greatly expand, for the period between January 31 and December 31, 2020 (the “Covered Period”), the number of ...

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), signed into law on March 27, 2020, provides significant relief provisions for small businesses. This client alert briefly summarizes certain provisions of a newly-created loan program—the “Paycheck Protection Program”—which may help your business weather this storm. Given this subject’s urgency and the complexity of the Act, this is simply a short summary to provide you a starting point for exploring relief which may be available to you. Check with your attorney at ECJ for the critical details ...

My grandmother used to say that one of the biggest lies told in America was the statement: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”. Grandma was a bit of a pessimist. But the Department of Labor has issued, and continues to add segments to, a very helpful and rather lengthy question and answer page that provides guidance for employers on implementing the paid sick and family leave requirements under the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act, set to take effect on April 1, 2020. This information is particularly useful in light of the fact that the DOL has not yet provided ...

At 880 pages in length, “comprehensive” does not seem to do it justice. But the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act is, in a word, comprehensive. Coming on the heels of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act which focused primarily on relief for employees, the CARES Act seeks to provide both individuals and businesses with immediate relief, and a path forward, as we look to a future following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Individual Relief

Many individuals will receive a check directly from the government. Specifically, individual adults making less than $75,000 in ...

Businesses whose operations have been shut down due to the coronavirus crisis rightly look to their business interruption or business income policies for relief. As a general matter, in order to trigger coverage those policies require (1) direct physical loss or damage; (2) to covered property: (3) arising from a covered peril; and (4) resulting in the suspension of the business’ operations.

In cases where coverage is triggered, an insured business may be entitled to recover the net income it would have received but for the interruption and its operating expenses during the time ...

The below message has been posted with permission from the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. 

Tomorrow, Friday, March 27^th, the Los Angeles City Council is having an emergency remote meeting to consider a new policy to require businesses to lay-off and rehire employees businesses based on seniority.  Under this proposal, businesses need to have “just cause” to terminate an employee, businesses must lay off employees based on seniority and if businesses recall employees it must be done based on seniority.

Click here to see Item No. 2 on the LA City Council ...