Alert
Published 06/30/2020
By Lisa M. Koblin, Kevin M. Levy
Services Labor and Employment
Just one week after U.S. Senators introduced the COVID-19 Whistleblower Protection Bill that would prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who may blow the whistle on wrongdoing related to CARES Act relief, Philadelphia lawmakers have enacted a new City ordinance that protects whistleblowers from retaliatory employment actions after they sound the alarm at work. The Philadelphia City Council passed the ordinance, Bill No. 200328 , on June 25, 2020 and Mayor Jim Kenney signed it the next day, dubbing the new legislation the “ Essential Workers Protection Act ” (EWPA). Importantly,...
Article
Published 06/30/2020
Industries Insurance
Blog Post
Published 06/30/2020
By Francis X. Riley III, John L. Ropiequet
Blog Post
Published 06/30/2020
By Lisa M. Koblin, Kevin M. Levy
Blog Post
Published 06/29/2020
By Harriet E. Cooperman, Erik P. Pramschufer
Article
Published 06/25/2020
Services Force Majeure Litigation | Litigation
Alert
Published 06/25/2020
By Daniel Altchek
Industries Higher Education
In May 2020, Education Secretary Betsey DeVos signed new Title IX regulations in an effort to strengthen protections for all students. While all affected institutions of higher education are deeply focused on the new regulations, schools with unionized faculty and staff (and, in some cases, graduate students) should take note of certain special considerations discussed here. To implement the new regulations, schools will need to adopt compliant policies and procedures or revise existing ones to bring them into compliance. This may require issuing policy manual or handbook revisions through...
Alert
Published 06/24/2020
Services Bankruptcy and Restructuring
1. Revisit your credit agreement to refresh your understanding of financial covenant requirements that may be at issue or subject to potential default in light of resulting business interruption and challenges. If there are any that present a concern, be prepared to discuss them with your lender in an effort to reach an understanding as to a waiver of the covenant requirement, a modification of the covenant benchmark, or a forbearance agreement to clarify that an exercise of remedies will not be pursued. It is important to be proactive and candid with your lender. 2. Consider the implications...
Videos
Published 06/24/2020
Industries Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail |Food, Beverage and Agribusiness
Services : Corporate
COVID-19 has caused unprecedented business disruptions. A significant number of business operations have faced disruptions due to lack of demand, supply chain and manufacturing interruptions, and constrained credit markets, which have led to liquidity challenges. It is imperative for businesses to assess their financial positions and strategically plan in order to reduce the risk of financial distress and rebound as the economy begins to open. This program will cover key strategic issues and trends that businesses should consider.
Alert
Published 06/23/2020
By Laura Lau Marinelli, Thomas Goodwyn
Industries Condominium and Community Associations
As the City of Chicago and the rest of Illinois prepare to enter Phase 4 of Governor Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan on June 26, 2020, condominium associations and other common interest communities willing to assume the health and liability risks can reopen some of their amenity areas, subject to various restrictions (e.g., reduced occupancy, social distancing, face masks, frequent cleaning) and recommended procedures (e.g., reduced hours of operation, health screening of users, and use by reservation). However, there are important differences between the guidance issued by the State of...
Alert
Published 06/23/2020
By Patrick F. Nugent
Industries Higher Education
On June 15, 2020, the NCAA and Power Five Conferences [1] were hit with a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint, filed on behalf of plaintiffs Grant House (a member of Arizona State University’s men’s swimming and diving team) and Sedona Prince (a member of the University of Oregon’s women’s basketball team), seeks certification of nationwide classes of current and former student-athletes who seek damages and equitable relief related to the use of their names, images and likenesses (NILs). The complaint takes aim at the NCAA’s...
Alert
Published 06/19/2020
Services Litigation | White Collar and Government Enforcement
1. With deteriorated economic conditions, high unemployment and a $2 trillion government stimulus, the current environment is ripe for fraud. The Department of Justice has prioritized swift action against those suspected of pandemic-related illegal activity. Multi-agency enforcement collaborations at the state and federal levels are already resulting in prosecutions on a variety of charges, including fraudulently obtaining CARES Act paycheck protection loans, falsely claiming drugs could prevent COVID-19 and the theft of COVID-19-related medical supplies and selling them on eBay . 2...
Article
Published 06/19/2020
Industries Real Estate
Services Real Estate Services
Alert
Published 06/19/2020
By Alexander R. Bilus, Scott D. Patterson, Douglas A. Sampson
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy
This alert has been updated with new information reflecting the district judge’s denial of Capital One’s appeal. In a recent decision, a Virginia federal magistrate judge held that the attorney work product doctrine did not protect from discovery a forensic investigation report created for Capital One in the wake of a 2019 data breach. See In re Capital One Consumer Data Security Breach Litigation , MDL No. 1:19md2915, 2020 WL 2731238 (E.D. Va. May 26, 2020). This new decision threatens companies’ ability to protect such reports from disclosure to class action plaintiffs and other third...
Alert
Published 06/18/2020
By David G. Shapiro, Stanley J. Kull, Daniel Berman
During this past week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (the SBA ) has released a number of new or amended rules (the Rules ) providing additional guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program ( PPP ) in light of the changes made by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (the Flexibility Act ), which was signed into law on June 5, 2020. Our previous alert on the Flexibility Act can be found here . Additionally, the SBA has released new PPP loan forgiveness applications and instructions. Below are highlights of the additional guidance provided by the SBA. Payroll Threshold...
Alert
Published 06/18/2020
By Justin C. Danilewitz, JosephA. Valenti, Allison L. Burdette
The CARES Act pumped over two trillion dollars into the American economy, with much of that money going directly to individuals in the form of stimulus checks or to small businesses in the form of Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans. Many of those recipients will spend that money lawfully in any number of ways. Yet, as many recently announced prosecutions make clear, the stimulus and PPP injections have increased the opportunities for fraud. In turn, compliance risks are heightened for financial institutions—particularly Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money-Laundering (“BSA/AML”) risks. [1]...