On March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Order (Release No. 34-88465) extending the filing periods and proxy delivery requirements covered by its previous Order issued on March 4, 2020, due to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Passed by the United States Senate on March 25 and the House of Representatives on March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, H.R. 748, provides approximately $2 trillion in federal relief for individuals and businesses coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 18, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new law to provide New York State employees job-protected leave and benefits during precautionary or mandatory quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19.

An ever-expanding number of states and local government authorities are issuing “shelter in place” or “stay at home” orders that restrict the movement of employees of non-essential businesses. 

In Kim v. Reins International California, Inc. the California Supreme Court held employees do not lose standing to pursue a claim under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) if they settle and dismiss their individual claims for Labor Code violations.

The evolving response to COVID-19 brings daily legal and public health developments. Businesses, already struggling under immense economic pressures, now face new and unprecedented questions regarding how Shelter-in-Place (or Stay-at-Home) and Non-Essential Business Closure Orders (Orders) will impact their operations and workforces. Part II reviews the leave management, furlough, and lay-off considerations facing employers, particularly in light of new federal leave requirements under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

On March 19, 2020, shortly after several California counties issued “shelter-in-place” orders, California Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order that, effective immediately, required all California residents to comply with the state Department of Public Health order requiring all residents to stay at home in an effort to slow or reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Since then, over 21 states and numerous other local jurisdictions have issued similar orders which restrict the movement of residents and/or close public or in-person operations of non-essential businesses.

On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court (Court) issued its opinion regarding the case, Comcast Corporation v. National Association of African American-Owned Media. Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court.