News/Events/Blogs

On May 20, 2020, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced that it has finally launched free anti-sexual harassment training for non-supervisory employees. The online training, which is available through DFEH’s website – https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/shpt/ – will meet an employer’s obligation to provide training to non-supervisory employees by January 1, 2021.

Section 12950.1 of the California Government Code requires employers with five or more employees to provide at least one-hour of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment prevention to all non-supervisory employees in California.

Attorney Lizbeth (Beth) V. West will be a panelist for this webinar and interactive Q&A, and hosted by the Capital Region Family Business Center.

Summary:
Join a panel of business leaders as they share their insights and experiences in bringing employees, vendors, and the public back to business. They will detail the steps used to create a safe work environment, the psychological hurdles, the physical preparations, communication tools,

On Friday May 15, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released the application borrowers will use to request forgiveness of their Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans.  PPP borrowers have been awaiting additional guidance regarding the forgiveness portion of the program for well over a month.  While the application provides some additional guidance, many questions remain.

BACKGROUND

As our readers already know, the PPP loan program was enacted pursuant to the CARES Act as a tool to help small businesses keep employees on their payroll. 

Small Business Administration (SBA) guidance published on May 13, 2020 adds clarity to the “necessity” certification that borrowers were required to make when applying for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.  According to this guidance, borrowers that received PPP loans of less than $2 million will be deemed to have made the necessity certification in good faith.  As to borrowers with loans greater than $2 million, if the SBA notifies the borrower that the SBA has determined that the borrower lacked an adequate basis for the necessity certification,

This is a follow up to our previous blog regarding California’s gradual entry into Stage 2 of the State’s re-opening plan – termed the “Resilience Roadmap.”  As Governor Newsom announced on Tuesday, May 13, 2020, counties are able to, and are, submitting their attestations to the State to speed up the reopening of certain businesses within their counties.  As such, the gradual reopening of businesses in Stage 2 is a fluid and rapidly evolving process driven not only by the State’s decisions on what businesses can and cannot reopen (on a modified basis) at this time,

The EEOC has updated its COVID-19 Guidance once again by adding a number of new FAQs to address issues related to the anticipated re-entry into the workplace.  The new FAQs discuss things like: an employer’s right to screen employees before entering the workplace to avoid a “direct threat” to the health and safety of employees; documentation to support an employee’s request for an accommodation; and “undue hardship” considerations when denying an accommodation based on the impact of COVID-19 on the business. 

On May 7, 2020, Governor Newsom announced the plan to gradually move into Stage 2 of the State’s Re-opening Plan beginning May 8, 2020.  In addition to the Governor’s announcement in his press conference, the California Department of Public Health issued industry-specific guidance and checklists for phased reopening under the State’s “Resilience Roadmap.”

Under the current State Shelter-in-Place Order, only essential businesses and workplaces are permitted to be open.  However, the State says that as of May 8,

Recent news reports, like this one from the Los Angeles Times, indicate that Congress is hotly debating a proposed law to immunize employers from lawsuits alleging that their workers contracted COVID-19 illness on the job.  While business owners in California may suffer headaches or congestion from other types of lawsuits related to COVID-19 in the workplace, exposure to employee lawsuits of this kind is probably not a feverish worry.

That is because,

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government recently passed emergency legislation making up to two weeks of paid sick leave benefits available to employees who are forced to miss work for reasons relating to COVID-19. We previously blogged about the paid sick leave made available under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) here and here. The FFCRA’s paid sick leave, however, is not available to employees of large employers,

On May 3, 2020, the SBA updated its FAQs regarding the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) under the CARES Act.  Among other things, the updated FAQs finally addressed this issue:  What happens to an employer’s ability to have its PPP loan forgiven if employees refuse to return from layoff and thus an employer cannot meet the required full-time employee ratio in connection with the required 75% expenditure of loan proceeds on “payroll costs” during the 8-week Coverage Period?