“On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” Gregory S. Williams Your business and employees have just experienced an extraordinary year. We have learned new ways of working, embraced new technology, and incorporated many new legal requirements, but most importantly, we have persevered ...
In the past few weeks, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a number of press releases in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Calling the outbreak an “extraordinary situation,” the USPTO has announced that it will be providing additional time for the filing of certain patent and trademark documents and for payments of specific mandatory fees ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a news brief in connection with a further extension of the relief provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The USPTO has offered patent and trademark applicants and owners an additional thirty (30) days in which to file certain documents and pay certain fees, extending the deadline set by the original notices to June 1st ...
The prospect of compliance disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to create a temporary policy outlining its enforcement discretion against certain regulated entities. As this is a federal policy, some entities may not enjoy the same enforcement discretion at their state and local level ...
It has been said that, sooner or later, everything old is new again. In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) sweeping the globe in 2020, a heretofore largely overlooked and even less understood nineteenth century legal term has come to the forefront of American jurisprudence: force majeure ...
The USCIS on Friday, May 15, sent a request to Congress for $1.2 billion in emergency funding, proposing to pay it back with a 10% surcharge on application filing fees. The immigration service is entirely funded by these filing fees and has seen a significant drop in applications due to the coronavirus pandemic. It said in the statement it expects a 61% drop in revenue through the end of the fiscal year ...
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 ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on countless businesses around the United States, including breweries. During this time, its understandable many businesses have allowed their trademark deadlines to pass without action due to lack of funds. In light of these hardships, the US Trademark Office has announced that if a business allowed a deadline to pass due to COVID-19, it will waive/refund any fees to Petition to Revive the abandoned application or registration ...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday on Twitter that the U.S. will extend the tax filing deadline of April 15, 2020 for 2019 individual and business tax returns until July 15, 2020. Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue Service announced that the payment deadline for any 2019 individual income tax due, including 2020 first quarter estimated payments due April 15, 2020, was deferred until July 15, 2020 ...
Many jurisdictions in Northern California and throughout the State have ordered individuals who live in those communities to shelter in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. In addition, all businesses except for “Essential Businesses” have been ordered to close. Certain construction activities, however, are exempt from the Shelter-in-Place orders, including housing projects and public works ...
Updated April 2, 2020 The recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides payroll tax relief to certain businesses facing the COVID-19 crisis. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) provides for payroll tax credits for small and mid-size private sector employers (500 or fewer employees) required to provide paid sick and expanded family and medical leave related to qualified payments made between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 ...
Click here to access the FAQs provided bythe Pennsylvania Department of Health. Beginning Sunday, April 19, 2020, at 8:00 p.m., Pennsylvania businesses that are still permitted to be open will be required to implement certain safety measures under the enforcement of various state agencies and the state police. The order issued by Department of Health Secretary Dr ...
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. OSHA has issued several guidelines that, while not the rule of law, do offer guidance on addressing COVID-19 issues, including recordkeeping and 300 log reporting obligations. On April 10, OSHA issued guidance that appeared to limit what cases would be required to be reported on OSHA 300 logs ...
UPDATED - We have updated several items as clarifications have been made. We will continue to update as more frequently asked questions are posed. When Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ("CRA"), it left much for the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") to explain. The DOL has published a temporary rule offering its interpretations of the CRA, and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has established a procedure for claiming the tax credits ...
Last Friday, March 27, we published CARES Act: Paycheck Protection Loans and Eligibility for Loan Forgiveness. This alert is intended to provide an update concerning implementation of the Paycheck Protection Loan application process. The SBA has posted a Paycheck Protection Application Form on its website. Since the loans will be funded by private SBA lenders, and guaranteed by the SBA, most borrowers are lining up with private SBA lenders now ...
UPDATE - On March 20 in the evening, Governor Wolf issued a revised list classifying businesses as life-sustaining and non-life-sustaining. The press release, list and frequently asked questions can be found here. In addition, Governor Wolf has extended the timeframe for enforcement of the order. The Pennsylvania General Assembly recently completed the Appropriations hearings related to the FY 2020-2021 budget. The plans to resume the legislative session were altered due to COVID-19 ...
Our updates about “The REAL Trending Litigation Topics Regarding COVID-19” are now called Unprecedented to reflect the development and adaption of legal theories to address the unprecedented impact from COVID-19. Although the name is new, Unprecedented will continue to bring you the most up-to-date trends in COVID-19 litigation each week. With the first full month of government-imposed shutdowns behind them, some parts of the country are starting to gradually reopen ...
This eighth edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, follows what we hope was a restful and meaningful Memorial Day weekend. For the third week in a row, shutdown challenges, workers' compensation claims, and wrongful death lawsuits have dominated the news cycle. But, we are also seeing a continuation in refund claims and an uptick in fraud claims involving everything from alleged misuse of sick days to corporate press releases ...
This seventh edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, sees a continuation of the trend we identified last week: shutdown challenges, workers' compensation claims, and wrongful death lawsuits have dominated the past week’s news cycle. We expect these latter two types of cases, which we consider more broadly as COVID-19 exposure cases, to pick up significantly as the country reopens over the next several weeks ...
