Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), assistance eligible individuals (AEIs) are entitled to have their COBRA premium payments fully subsidized for the period between April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021 (the “subsidy period”). The subsidy applies to group medical, dental, and vision benefit plans but not healthcare flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs). Employers will be fully reimbursed for all COBRA premiums they front under ARPA through a tax credit on their quarterly payroll tax filings.

In determining their taxable income for federal income tax purposes, borrowers of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans now can deduct qualifying business expenses they paid with forgiven PPP loan proceeds. The new law provides that no deduction is denied, no tax attribute is reduced, and no basis increase is denied because of the exclusion from income of the recipient’s forgiven PPP loan. The change is effective for tax years ending after March 27, 2020 (tax year 2020 for calendar year taxpayers).

On March 10, 2021, a new set of sustainability disclosure requirements went into effect in the European Union, in the form of its Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR or EU Regulation). While the measure is complicated, essentially it imposes new obligations on investment funds, requiring disclosures of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk factors in materials that are provided to investors and made available on asset companies’ websites and in their periodic reports.

Illinois lawmakers have advanced a bill that would materially amend the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and provide significant relief to Illinois employers, who have faced a wave of BIPA class action lawsuits in the last three years. Over 850 BIPA class actions have been filed in Illinois.

On March 19, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom revived and expanded the COVID-19 related supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL) law that expired on December 31, 2020. Senate Bill 95 codifies SPSL through newly enacted Labor Code sections 248.2 and 248.3, which place additional requirements on employers beyond existing paid sick leave requirements, apply retroactively, and require employers to provide back payments to their employees.

The Louisiana Supreme Court, reversing multiple lower circuit court decisions, has now invalidated the “regular use” exclusion in an Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) policy based on Louisiana public policy. In Higgins v. La. Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co., No. 2020-01094 (La. 3/24/21), the plaintiff, Charles Higgins, was injured in an automobile accident while operating a truck owned by his employer, AT&T.

A recent Delaware Court of Chancery decision provided an exemplary analysis of when a deadlock in an LLC might be the basis for a dissolution. In Mehra v. Teller, C.A. No. 2019-0812-KSJM (Del. Ch. Jan. 29, 2021), the court analyzed case law, statutes, and learned commentary that it synthesized in a careful application to the facts of this case