We are dedicating this post to COVID-19 information and resources. Our goal is to centralize key links so that businesses, landlords, employees and tenants can find actionable information quickly. If you need a legal consultation regarding navigating and coping with COVID-19 relating laws and regulations, please contact our office. Instead of writing new articles, we will post ongoing updates here with a date separator.
GENERAL RESOURCES AND LINKS:
Center for Disease Control’s (“CDC’s”) COVID-19 Page.
State of California’s Pandemic Roadmap (Stages 1-4)
UCLA Health’s COVID-19 Resources Page
American Industrial Hygiene Associations COVID-19 Resources Page
Update June 6, 2020
Trump signs the new PPP extension law into law.
Update June 3, 2020
Senate passes PPP bill, sends to President. Under the proposal, small businesses would have to spend 60% of the loan money on payroll instead of the previous 75%. Read more here.
Update May 29, 2020
House votes to extend PPP period from 8 weeks to 24 weeks. Read more here.
Update: May 19, 2020
Round 2 PPP funds are still available for qualified small businesses.
Update: April 16, 2020
United States Department of the Treasury. The U.S. Treasury announced Round 2 of PPP.
Update: March 31, 2020
United States Department of the Treasury. Towards the end of March the U.S. Treasury launched the Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”). The purpose is the provide small businesses with the resources they need to maintain their payroll, hire back employees who may have been laid off and cover applicable overhead. The program is administered by the SBA. The first round funds were exhausted very quickly.
March 25, 2020.
To organize our COVID-19 page, we are going to group information by level of government using Federal, State, County / Local.
FEDERAL RESOURCES: The federal government through a variety of agencies: SBA, CDC, Department of Labor and Congress (pending legislation) provides resources to meet the COVID-19 challenges.
The United States Small Business Administration has created a specific section on their website to provide COVID-19 guidance for small businesses. You can find it here: https://www.sba.gov/page/coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has published Employer Guidance here: https://bit.ly/3bzKSCT
The Department of Labor has created a publication called “Guidance for Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19.” This is a great resource as the country undertakes re-opening after the initial COVID-19 wave.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Click here to see the actions taken by the EEOC in response to the Coronavirus and how that may affect Employers and Employees.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA RESOURCES:
The Office of the Governor of California. Click on this link to see an all-inclusive summary of actions taken by the Governor of California to combat COVID-19. Within this list are links to specific orders and releases that may be relevant to you. This includes the stat-at-home order, essential v. non-essential business designations, re-opening guidance and much more. If you want to consult with an attorney on your specific concern, please contact our office.
California Employment Development Department (“EDD”). The EDD has launched or re-activated a number of programs to help businesses and employees in an effort to reduce the impact of unemployment. Similar to other agencies and institutions, the EDD has as COVID-19 page here. This is a great resource for employers and employees, covering questions like extended unemployment insurance, work-sharing, furloughs, PUA, disability insurance, paid family leave, taxpayer assistance and many more. If you want to consult with an attorney on your specific concern, please contact our office.
The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBANK). Many Californians have never heard of the IBANK. What is the IBANK? This is similar to the Federal SBA program referenced above. Click here to learn more about the COVID-19 assistance available from IBANK. If you want to consult with an attorney on your specific concern, please contact our office.
California Department of Industrial Relations. The California Department of Industrial Relations has a wonderful resource to help businesses comply with safety guidance. There is general guidance with some specific guidance for identified industries.
California Court System. This is a full one-third of our government. The Courts have been severely impacted by COVID-19. The Court the system has drastically cut back operations and is actively adapting new technology to permit the administration of justice to go on. In the short term, this means the wheels of justice will move even slower. This is bad news for plaintiffs (including landlords seeking a proper commercial or residential eviction) as well as other civil plaintiffs.
In practice, these measures include: delaying hearings and trials, restricting physical access to the courts, emphasizing remote appearance, online mediations / settlement conferences and “triaging” of civil rights. In an environment with even more limited court access, who goes first? Criminal, Family, Real Estate (unlawful detainers), etc. etc?
In any litigation, external non-legal events can take precedence over the legal merits in influencing case resolutions. COVID-19 is one of those non-legal events that litigants will have to weigh as the look to the court system for resolution. Click this link for the full list of California Court COVID-19 measures. If you want to consult with an attorney on your specific concern, please contact our office.
COUNTY/LOCAL RESOURCES. Local resources include County-level on down to municipality, city or town level government. The California State Association of Counties (“CSAC”) website is a great resource to quickly find your county’s COVID-19 website. Once on the CSAC website, click on the link entitled “County Websites Dedicated to the Coronavirus” and that will provide a hyperlink for each of California’s counties.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR EMPLOYER, ASSET OWNER OR INDIVIDUAL: This article contains links to resources and information that can be the starting point of a legal analysis to assess your options, opportunities and rights. If you want to consult with an attorney on your specific concern, please contact our office.
What about non-legal considerations? We’ve gathered some questions that we believe can help guide the decision making process during these challenging times:
- How serious of a threat do you perceive that this event is to your business?
- How serious could it be in a probabilistic analysis?
- Where are there opportunities?
- Where are there lessons?
- How do you create a path forward through this environment?
In meeting these challenges, we recommend consulting with your advisors — lawyers, CPAs, financial advisors – to review these and other questions to determine your best path forward.
As always, we are here to help.