Force Majeure
As the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is felt globally, many businesses are struggling to perform their contractual obligations, despite their best intention. While many businesses have been forced to suspend operations, those businesses need to consider their contractual obligations arising during this interruption of operation. Businesses need to contemplate how they will manage the impact of the crisis, what mitigations are available, and what remedies might be available. A common contractual issue that a business currently faces is suspending or terminating a contract. Many contracts include a force majeure clause. Force majeure clauses cover situations that are beyond the
Moratorium on Evictions: Virginia Order and Federal CARES Act
On June 8, 2020, the Virginia Supreme Court issued an Order which creates a moratorium on evictions in the state through June 28, 2020. The June 8 Order is an amendment to the previously entered June 1 Fifth Order, which did not address evictions in its extension of several operational guidelines related to COVID-19 protections. The decision to cease evicting tenants was based on a request from Governor Northam while his team creates and implements a rent relief program and a plan to minimize the public health risks that come with evicting residents. Virginia landlords should avoid pursuing an order of
Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act
On June 3, 2020, Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which marks the beginning of a second wave of Coronavirus related legislation expected to come out of Washington. The Act modifies several provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program originally implemented under the CARES Act in March. The goal of the Act is to create more flexibility within the forgiveness system in order to allow borrowers to achieve full or almost full forgiveness for their PPP loans. Most significantly, the Flexibility Act will allow businesses who have already received funds to extend the covered period from 8 weeks to 24 weeks.
Ways to Help Your Small Business During COVID-19; Application for Forgiveness of SBA Payroll Protection Program Loans
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act became the first stimulus-relief package passed into law, which in part is able to provide $376 billion in relief for Americans and their small businesses. In addition to traditional SBA funding, the Act offers temporary programs directly related to Coronavirus relief. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) allows small businesses to keep their employees on payroll by funding eight weeks of payroll, rent, mortgage interest, and utilities. If the business only uses the funds for these reasons, then the SBA will forgive the loan. To receive partial or even full forgiveness of the PPP Loans,
Returning to Work in Tennessee
While many workers were placed on temporary layoff from concerns related to COVID-19, Governor Bill Lee is working to restart the economy in Tennessee after social distancing measures were in effect for several weeks. During the period of the shutdown, many workers utilized Tennessee Unemployment Compensation (TUC) to receive income. Now that businesses are calling their workers back, many are refusing to return out of fears of unsafety in the workplace. The state has said that employees utilizing the TUC must be “willing and able to work” in order to receive the unemployment benefits. This means that as the state
Extension of Remote Notarization and Witnessing Through June 30, 2020
In Executive Order No. 37, Governor Bill Lee extended the temporary use of remote notarization and witnessing of documents in Tennessee through June 30, 2020. The previous order, Executive Order No. 26, was set to expire on May 17. The order allows for remote notarization and witnessing of a will, deed, and power of attorney, among other legal documents, to be done through an audio and visual communication like Zoom or Skype. This order also permits the extension of terms of any notaries public and online notaries which were set to expire between March 12, 2020 and June 15, 2020. These
Opportunity for Remote Notarization and Witnessing During COVID-19
In an effort to reduce the spread of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), Tennessee Governor Bill Lee issued Executive Order No. 26 (“the Order”) authorizing the use of remote notarization and remote witnessing through May 17, 2020. In relevant part the Order allows all Documents which require the physical presence of a notary and/or witnesses to now be executed through the use of remote notarization and remote witnessing. An applicable Document for this Order includes a will, trust, living will, durable power of attorney, deed, or other legal document requiring witness or notary presence. The new guidelines allow for execution to
Families First Coronavirus Response Act Signed Into Law, Will Go Into Effect April 1st
On March 18th, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”) was signed into law. The 110-page bill contains, in part, two additional types of employment leave aimed at allowing employees affected by the Coronavirus to take paid leave. The first are new FMLA leave entitlements, and the second is emergency paid sick leave. These additions become effective 15 days after their enactment, and apply to nearly all employers that employ fewer than 500 employees. Under the FMLA leave, as expanded by the Act, covered employers will be required to allow 12 weeks of FMLA leave to certain employees impacted by
Transgender Discrimination Held To Be Title VII Violation By Sixth Circuit
On March 7, 2018, in deciding EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that discrimination against transgender and transitioning status employees is necessarily a violation of Title VII. In Harris, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) brought a Title VII action against a Michigan Funeral Home alleging that the employer had terminated an employee, Stephens, who was choosing to live as a woman in violation of Title VII. The Funeral Home had a gender-specific dress code, which required men to wear suits and for women to wear dresses, which was
Tennessee Legislature Passes Online Notary Public Act
On April 18, 2018, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill authorizing electronic acknowledgments and online notarizations for certain transactions. This so-called web cam notarization is currently only available in four states. Tennessee will join those stated on July 1, 2019 when the legislation becomes effective. There are a number of other states with pending bills similar to Tennessee’s Online Notary Public Act (“Act”). Under current law in Tennessee, a person must physically appear before a notary to have his or her signature notarized. After the Online Notary Public Act takes effect, a person may “appear” by an interactive two-way audio and