A federal court in the District of Columbia has ordered the U.S. EPA to complete its review of air toxics emission standards for 13 source categories by June 30, 2020. Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, EPA must set maximum achievable control technology ("MACT") standards for stationary sources of hazardous air pollutants. The agency must review and, if necessary, revise those standards every eight years. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(d)(6), 7412(f)(2) ...
Amidst growing concerns regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, disinfectants and cleaners falsely claiming to prevent infection from the virus have started to infiltrate U.S. markets. In light of the widespread shortage of hand sanitizers, latex gloves, and face masks brought about by panic-buying in response to the outbreak, many Americans have fallen prey to these dupes. So much so that, according to a recent New York Times article, U.S ...
On June 27, 2017, the US EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers took the first of two steps to narrow the Clean Water Act’s scope. The agencies proposed a rule rescinding the Obama Administration’s 2015 Clean Water Rule defining “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) and replacing it with its prior definition ...
Key Points Employers may mandate employee COVID-19 vaccination programs, subject to certain exemptions. When requiring employee vaccinations, employers should consider the fact that these COVID-19 vaccines are currently approved under the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Mandatory employer COVID-19 vaccination programs must include religious and disability-related employee exemptions. INTRODUCTION On Dec ...
Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, California has implemented eviction restrictions on all landlords. These restrictions have been issued in several forms, and have changed over the last few weeks. The purpose of this alert is to provide a brief overview of the current statewide rules regarding evictions as applied to senior communities. On March 16, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom first issued an executive order authorizing local governments to halt evictions, among other things ...
On March 17, 2020, Governor Newson issued Executive Order N-29-20 ("Executive Order") in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This order supersedes Executive Order N-25-20, which was issued on March 12, and expressly waives all requirements in the Brown Act and Bagley-Keene Act that require a physical presence of Board members, staff or the public as a condition of holding and participating in a local agency governing body or state commission public meeting ...
Key Points A new FDA rule clarifies when food manufacturers may label fermented or hydrolyzed foods as gluten-free. Manufacturers making gluten-free claims must maintain records showing that the foods or food ingredients used in the foods are gluten-free prior to fermentation or hydrolysis. A product marked as gluten-free may be deemed misbranded under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act if its manufacturer does not maintain supporting documentation to the satisfaction of the FDA ...
Key Notes FDA announces flexible approach to enforcement of Nutrition and Supplement Facts labeling requirements for small food manufacturers and manufacturers of packaging for single-ingredient sugars, in part due to the impacts of COVID-19. The FDA adopted final rules updating the Nutrition and Supplement Facts1 labeling requirements (the “Rules”) that are effective on Jan ...
Key Point The Federal Reserve has further revised the terms for the upcoming Main Street Lending Program in order to expand access to the program's three loan facilities The Federal Reserve announced on June 8, 2020, that it has revised key terms for its upcoming Main Street Lending Program to support small and medium-sized businesses, consisting of three loan facilities: the Main Street New Loan Facility (MSNLF), the Main Street Priority Loan Facility (MSPLF), and the Main Stree
On December 19, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS issued final regulations (T.D. 9889), which provide much-anticipated guidance on tax-favored qualified opportunity zone investments. The 544-page regulation package generally retains the same approach and structure of the proposed regulations issued in October 2018 and April 2019 (prior Hanson Bridgett analysis available) ...
The largest U.S.-based for-profit multi- campus international university became the first benefit corporation to go public on February 1, 2017 raising $490 million. This is a significant financial event and shows that the financial markets are available to companies that combine a positive social and environmental purpose along with shareholder profit ...
Key Points As the State begins to open back up, COVID-19 employment related litigation also begins. Several trends have emerged. On an individual and class-wide basis, Plaintiffs cite disability discrimination, emotional distress, retaliation, reimbursement, public nuisance and WARN Act claims, among others ...
Article PDF Practical Insights Five Points to Negotiate in a 'Black Box' Product Development Agreement What is a “black box” product development agreement? How do you protect your product idea? What intellectual property can a Manufacturer expect to own? Can a Manufacturer limit a Processor’s right to work for others? What about co-manufacturing agreements? What is a “black box” product development agreement? A food
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is upending regular commercial activity across the United States and around the world, and that disruption is expected to escalate. Among the issues confronting our clients, the effect of public health orders and other measures to address COVID-19 is threatening, impacting, and in some cases, outright prohibiting the performance of material contractual obligations ...
Key Points Employers that claimed a tax credit for qualified COVID-related leave paid to employees in 2021 must report the amount of leave paid in Box 14 of the employee's 2021 Form W-2 or on a separate statement. The reporting requirement is new for 2021 for governmental employers, because those employers were not eligible for a tax credit for COVID-related leave paid in 2020 ...
When startup founders get together to form a new company, one of the first steps after actually incorporating the entity is to issue the founders their initial equity in the company. This is commonly referred to as “founders stock.” Most initial cap tables target the issuance to founders of around 8 million shares, so that combined with a 2 million share option pool, the initial “fully diluted” capitalization is 10 million shares ...
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) becomes effective on January 1, 2020. As the CCPA deadline looms, businesses need to act now to be ready. In this article, we provide an overview of the CCPA, key changes to the final law, and steps businesses can take to be ready for the CCPA ...
The February 14 decision in a closely watched Fourth Circuit False Claims Act (FCA) case did not, as initially anticipated, address the issue of the validity of statistical sampling to establish FCA liability. However, it did address another question that has split the circuits—whether the U.S. Department of Justice has the unreviewable right to veto FCA settlements in cases in which it has declined to intervene. See United States ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Community, et al ...
On February 13, 2020, in Frlekin v. Apple, Inc., No. S243805 (Cal. 2/13/2020), the California Supreme Court determined that Apple employees must be paid for time spent waiting for and undergoing exit bag searches. Although Apple does not require its employees to bring bags to work, the Court concluded that the search time amounts to time under which the employees are under Apple's "control," as that term is defined in the California Wage Orders ...
Key PointsThe Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) passed the Senate with a broad definition of "broker" to target cryptocurrency information reporting to the IRS.Absent amendment, the bill imposes obligations similar to IRS Form 1099-B on various technology providers in the crypto industry, even if they do not broker digital asset transactions and lack the necessary information to comply ...
IRS Announcement 2017-15 provides relief to employees who have been adversely affected by the recent wildfires in Northern California by allowing them to take loans or distributions from retirement plans to alleviate hardships caused by the wildfires. The Announcement also provides relief from verification procedures required under retirement plans with respect to loans and hardship distributions ...
Gender discrimination is a hot topic for California employers, with a recent California appellate court decision regarding sexual orientation discrimination and new regulations issued by the California Fair Employment and Housing Council (FEHC) regarding transgender discrimination. In Husman v. Toyota, (Case No ...
All non-exempt employees are required to be paid separately for rest breaks and other non-productive work time. This may come as a surprise to businesses that employ commissioned or piece rate employees, who may have assumed (incorrectly) that the commission or piece rate compensation earned by their employees – often very high amounts – is sufficient to cover the pay to which those employees are entitled for rest breaks or other non-productive work hours ...
On June 1, 2018, the Los Angeles County Superior Court granted a Defendant’s Motion to Compel Individual Arbitrations of the two Plaintiffs’ wage claims, dismissed the class claims and stayed the action with regard to the remaining Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) claim. The Court, in Navarrete v. Louis Vuitton, Case No ...
On June 1, 2018, the Los Angeles County Superior Court granted a Defendant’s Motion to Compel Individual Arbitrations of the two Plaintiffs’ wage claims, dismissed the class claims and stayed the action with regard to the remaining Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) claim. The Court, in Navarrete v. Louis Vuitton, Case No ...
