On March 20, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) jointly issued guidance regarding the tax credits available to certain small employers who are required to provide new types of paid leave to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Act), enacted on March 18, 2020 ...
As a growing number of the workforce is being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are raising several benefits related questions, particularly with respect to the new paid sick and family and medical leave requirements. The Employee Benefits Group at Hanson Bridgett will be providing updated information on possible issues arising in the benefits area through Benefits Alerts and postings on Hanson Bridgett's Online COVID-19 Resource Center ...
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development ("DCED"), Pennsylvania businesses have until 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 2020 to seek an exemption to Governor Wolf's order requiring "non-life sustaining businesses" to close physical locations. Businesses that do not file their exemption by the deadline may lose the opportunity entirely. The application can be found on the DCED’s website ...
In an expedited process, a Federal Law amending several legislative acts was passed by the State Duma and Federal Council of the Russian Federation. In particular, the law envisages use of the power of the Government of the Russian Federation to impose, in extraordinary cases, a moratorium on insolvency proceedings and provides a legal regime of such moratorium ...
The Government of the Slovak Republic approved on 31 March 2020 further draft bills in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these is also an act amending the Labour Code[1]and other particular laws in the field of employment and social security. You can find a brief summary on this amendment below ...
On 1 April the Prime Minister adopted a new decree (the “1 April Decree”) to extend the lockdown measures previously introduced through the decrees issues on 8 March, 9 March, 11 March and 22 March 2020 ...
The Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 31, 2020 signed a notice waiving certain deadlines for patent-related filings, if the missed deadline resulted from situations relating to COVID-19 ...
On March 12, 2020, in view that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a Pandemic, we published a Guide for employer including different scenarios that may occur in the labor aspect. After its publication, the governmental authorities have adopted various measures related to labor matters aimed to prevent the spread of the virus and to secure employment ...
Although some industries have halted all non-essential work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patent and trademark offices around the world have remained open and operational, largely due to electronic filing capabilities ...
In a recent article, we discussed government efforts to combat fraud in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen a number of government enforcement actions, including the marketing of coronavirus treatments;selling toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams and other products as treatments to prevent and cure the coronavirus; andprice-gouging on health and safety products. On March 31, 2020, the U.S ...
Federal and state agencies continue to deliver tools and information to help healthcare providers respond to the COVID-19 pandemic since the President declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency. The declaration gave the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) authority to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of federal healthcare programs ...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the CARES ACT was signed into law. The Cares Act includes provisions for changing deadlines for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. For patents and trademarks, the Act permits the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to change the deadlines imposed by Title 35 of the United States Code, the Trademark Act, Section 18 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ...
The United Nations has issued a “Global Call to Creatives” (the “Call”) asking content creators, influencers, advertisers, and others to help in translating public health messages “into work that will engage and inform people across different cultures, languages, communities and platforms ...
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the President signed H.R. 748, known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act on March 27, 2020. The bill provides more than $2 trillion of aid to individuals and the public and private sector ...
On March 31, 2020, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released initial guidance and a sample application form for the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), the small business loan program established pursuant to theCoronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act signed by President Trump on March 27, 2020 ...
Building on previously announced waivers and emergency rulemaking, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced additional waivers on March 30, 2020, to provide hospitals, health systems, and many other providers with “maximum flexibility to respond to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ...
(continuation from Part I - separate article) Part II - "Antivirus Programme" - Financial Assistance to Czech Employers The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs was mandated by the Government to further prepare a compensation program for entrepreneurs who continue to operate but whose production has decreased due to measures (category C of the Antivirus Programme) ...
The Indian Government has announced a full nationwide lockdown for three weeks (until April 14, 2020) in order to contain the spread of Covid-19. Accordingly, the Indian Trade Marks Registry, Patents and Design Office have been closed till April 15, 2020. Nevertheless, the online filing portal of Indian IP offices is operational. All deadlines falling till April 15, 2020 will become due on the day when the IP offices re-open ...
Even though OSHA has advised that no specific standard covers the novel coronavirus, human resource and safety personnel must be mindful of the generally-applicable standards that might apply. In addition to recording requirements on OSHA 300 logs, there are five standards that merit particular attention in the COVID-19 context ...
The USCIS has announced it will extend its suspension of in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers (ASCs) until May 4, 2020. It has also indicated it may extend these closures beyond that date if needed. USCIS will continue to provide limited emergency services during these closures ...
On March 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which is supporting the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in administering the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and SBA issued preliminary guidance on the program and made available the form of application ...
