Due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 pandemic on California’s judicial branch, The Judicial Council of California met yesterday and issued emergency rules related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Overall, the Judicial Council of California issued eleven different orders, however, three of them will directly affect employment cases.
Statute of Limitations Tolls for All Civil Actions
With the business disruptions and market turbulence being wrought by COVID-19, many employers sponsoring qualified retirement plans are facing key decisions about their 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, and cash balance plans. From considering potential cost-savings measures such as suspending safe harbor contributions to a 401(k) plan and/or discretionary contributions to a profit sharing plan,
As the country faces a wave of COVID-19 closure orders, individuals are being encouraged to report violations. Hypothetically, these reports could originate from just about anyone – employees, employees’ family members, customers, neighbors, the general public. Given the wide range of potential complainants, these reports may not always be based on first-hand observations.
When investigating
Many employees and employers, in recent weeks, have been adjusting to the new normal of working from home due to California’s Shelter-in-Place order. However, employers and their employees deemed part of the essential critical infrastructure face a different complication. One major issue facing essential employees is handling childcare issues in light of daycare and
Consistent with its efforts to encourage federal contractors to consider functional affirmative action plans (FAAPs) as an alternative to establishment AAPs, OFCCP last week issued a bulletin stating it is open for FAAP business. Because FAAPs require OFCCP approval and updating, OFCCP does not want current circumstances to deter contractors from FAAPs.
In an
On April 3, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued an alert to covered entities and business associates. Evidently, one or more individuals are posing as OCR Investigators and contacting HIPAA covered entities and business associates in an attempt to obtain protected health information (PHI). The individual identifies on the telephone as an OCR investigator,
Applicants in the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Business Loan Programs (which include the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)) are generally subject to the affiliation rule in 13 CFR Section 121.301, subject to certain statutory waivers. These rules provide that in determining a concern’s size, the SBA counts the employees of both the concern whose size is
Law enforcement is alerting businesses and the public that during the ongoing COVID-19 federal and state emergencies and stay-at-home orders to be extremely vigilant about email and internet scams being perpetrated by wrongdoers trying to capitalize on the scare.
According to the FBI:
“Scammers are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to steal your money, your personal
Earlier today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) Directorate of Enforcement Programs issued a new memorandum and interim guidance (“Enforcement Guidance”) on enforcement of the respiratory protection standard, 29 CFR § 1910.134, and certain other health standards, in light of the severe shortages in respirator availability. Consistent with the agency’s March 14, 2020 enforcement
Between March 1 and March 20, 2020, 275,000 individuals were entered into USCIS’ new electronic pre-registration system to obtain an H-1B for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This is a nearly 25% increase over last year’s filings.
While it is hard to judge what led to the apparent increase in demand, the change may be a