Congress and the Trump Administration have been moving swiftly to provide income tax relief to workers coping with the COVID-19 outbreak. It is a quickly moving target – here's what we now know.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was approved by the U.S. House or Representatives on March 13, 2020 (the Act). The Act would require that covered employers grant up to 12 weeks of emergency family medical leave and 80 hours of sick leave to employees impacted by the coronavirus. 

As a follow up to our earlier alert regarding the March 10, 2020 “Call for Special Report” letter issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, it has been reported that the New Jersey legislature will begin discussion on March 16, 2020 of a draft bill that will force insurers to pay COVID-19 business interruption claims expressly excluded by ISO’s “Virus” exclusion.

With worldwide supply chains disrupted because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, companies facing significant effects on demand as well as input supply shortages should consider whether an industry-wide response is available. While collective efforts among competitors must proceed carefully to address and minimize antitrust risk, these approaches can produce efficiencies and meet important public health and societal needs.

New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a letter on March 10, 2020, titled "Call for Special Report Pursuant to Section 308, New York Insurance Law: Business Interruption and Related Coverage Written in New York." This letter instructs each authorized property/casualty insurer to provide certain information regarding the commercial property insurance it has written in New York and details on the business interruption coverage provided in the types of policies for which it has ongoing exposure. 

There are many questions brewing about the impact of coronavirus/COVID-19 on employers. Below, we address a few (of the many) frequently asked questions by Oregon employers regarding COVID-19-related attendance issues:

Illustrating another impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, on March 6, 2020, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), an interagency council of federal financial regulators, issued a guidance document advising banks how to minimize a pandemic’s potential adverse effects on financial institutions.

On January 21, 2020, New Jersey Governor Philip Murphy signed widespread amendments to the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (the NJ-WARN Act) into law that go into effect July 19, 2020. The most important and widely remarked-upon change is that, in certain instances, employers must pay severance of one week’s pay for every full year of employment.