Employment & Business Litigation Pointers - Volume I, No. 9

As a public service, we are pleased to present this issue of Employment & Business Litigation Pointers, which aims to provide our clients and subscribers with timely information and practical, business-oriented solutions to the latest employment and general business litigation developments.  In some jurisdictions, newsletters such as this may be considered: Attorney Advertising.
 
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NY Workers' Compensation Board Issues Fact Sheet on COVID-19 Claims
By Joseph S. Brown, Esq.

New York State Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) recently published a fact sheet—entitled COVID-19 & Workers’ Compensation Q&A—which suggests that many COVID-19 claims are likely to be approved.  The key take-aways from the fact sheet (available here) and best practices for employers are summarized in this alert.

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Fun in the Sun: What Employers Should Know About the Re-Opening of Outdoor Dining in NYS
By Katherine L. Wood, Esq.

When warm weather finally hits after another long winter in Western New York, everyone wants to be outside as much as possible.  This is particularly the case after the months' long New York State Pause Order initiated by Governor Cuomo in March.  Thankfully, as of June 4, 2020, outdoor and patio dining have re-opened in WNY as part of Phase 2 of the State’s re-opening plan.  This limited re-opening, however, may have taken some by surprise, as outdoor dining was not a part of the initial Phase 2 re-opening plan, and the Governor announced its inclusion only on June 3, 2020.  Outdoor dining will be part of Phase 2 going forward for all other regions in NYS.  So, how should employers go about re-opening their outdoor dining spaces, and what should they know about the NYS Department of Labor Interim Guidance on outdoor dining?

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PPP Changes Will Benefit Small Business Owners
By Joseph M. Reynolds, Esq. of our Commercial Real Estate, Development & Finance team

The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 was signed into law on June 5th, making the program's lending terms more favorable and practical to small businesses.  The Act provides for, among other things:

1. An extension in the timeframe in which the PPP funds could be spent from 8 weeks to 24 weeks, or December 31^st;
2. Expansion of the 25% cap on the use of PPP funds to cover nonpayroll expenses, such as mortgage payments, rent, etc. to 40%, bringing the 75% payroll expense requirement for forgiveness down to 60%; and
3. The elimination of the limits on forgiveness for small businesses that are unable to hire back former employees, hire new employees or return to the same level of business activity as before the virus.

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SECURE Act Limits "Stretch IRA" Estate Planning Opportunities

By Carly M. Speyer, Esq. of our Estate Planning team

In January, the SECURE Act implemented changes to longstanding federal tax rules about the way that most Americans’ retirement accounts must be administered. There have been many headlines announcing the increased age for beginning required minimum distributions from individual retirement accounts (now 72, up from 70.5), but an equally important change that doesn’t fit neatly into a headline is that the rules for how an account balance is treated upon the death of the account owner have changed significantly, and those changes could impact many families.

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Editor:
Joseph S. Brown, Esq.

Hurwitz & Fine's Labor & Employment team
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Labor & Employment Law