pandemic

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We hope you have found our video chat series helpful and informative. We are continuing this series of quick and bite-sized video chats, where our employment partners team up with practitioners in various areas of law to discuss the most pressing issues for employers navigating the return to work. Each 15-minute Q&A session offers targeted…

We hope you found our first three weeks of video chats to be helpful and informative. Due to popular demand, we are continuing this series of quick and bite-sized video chats, where our employment partners team up with practitioners in various areas of law to discuss the most pressing issues for employers navigating the return…

In brief

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretched across the globe, companies shifted to remote working environments and many reduced staff, all without much of an opportunity to prepare. The past two months have presented a serious threat to data security, including the most vulnerable financial data, personal data of employees and customers, and trade secrets. These risks cut across all sectors — financial services, industrial manufacturers, health care, and professional services. Recent experience confirms that an effective information security strategy should target these most-common threats: phishing, data sprawl, and employee mobility/redundancies.

How to Protect Your Company

Take a holistic approach to threat mitigation and data loss prevention in the face of increased risks. Such an approach must account for data protection, intellectual property (including trade secrets), and employment law. Here are the action items in these uncertain times to help address and mitigate the legal and regulatory risks:Continue Reading International: Initial Lessons Learned as COVID-19 Exposes Critical Gaps in Information Security

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid, severe, and unprecedented disruption to the movement of workers around the globe. In an effort to impede the spread, many governments have implemented travel and immigration restrictions that have impacted visa processing, work authorization, and cross-border entry for foreign nationals employed by multinational companies.

In order to allow…

In jurisdictions across the country — especially COVID-19 “hot spots” — courts have entered emergency orders suspending trials and hearings, tolling the statute of limitations, and shuttering their doors to conducting anything but the most essential business. Non-essential hearings — including hearings related to non-emergency civil matters — are being conducted through Zoom and Skype to continue court proceedings without violating shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines. In jurisdictions where shelter-in-place orders consider certain “legal services” as essential businesses which must remain open, those partaking must still abide by social-distancing guidelines (including six-foot spacing, and not gathering in groups of more than a minimal number such as 5 or 10), which can make something as routine as taking in-person depositions impossible. At the same time, businesses are reeling from the economic impact of COVID-19, and may find it beneficial to slow the pace of pending litigation. Responding to interrogatories, culling through thousands of emails to find responsive documents, and taking the time to prepare for depositions may not be front-of-mind for businesses simply trying to focus on retaining employees and staying afloat.
Continue Reading Emergency Court Rules for COVID-19 Slows Litigation and Provides Choices for Businesses

Unfortunately, the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing employers to implement a range of cost-cutting measures — furloughs, temporary office and location closings, and layoffs. As employers continue to adjust operations during these extraordinary times, it is essential to remember the notice obligation under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, …

On March 31, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin announced that the SBA and Treasury Department have initiated a “robust” mobilization effort of banks and other lending institutions to provide small businesses with $349 billion in much-needed capital pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program, established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and…

ICE Releases Guidance Relaxing I-9 Requirements For Certain Employers

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued guidance that provides flexibility for certain employers to comply with Form I-9 requirements due to COVID-19.

Which employers does the new guidance apply to?

The relaxed requirements apply only to employers and workplaces operating remotely due to COVID-19. If there are employees physically present at a work locations, no exceptions will apply. However, if newly hired employees or existing employees are subject to COVID-19 quarantine or lockdown protocols, DHS will evaluate on a case-by-case basis.Continue Reading UPDATE: Onboarding New Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic ICE Releases Guidance Relaxing I-9 Requirements For Certain Employers

To navigate the most-pressing issues facing multinational employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Global Employer Guide offers jurisdiction-specific guidance across 41 countries.

Download the Guide now to read the latest employment law guidance on issues including: legal requirements, practical and operational considerations, and emerging government regulation related to the outbreak.

For more information…

Current and Anticipated Requirements

The stark reality of government quarantines, mass-gathering bans, school closures, public health emergencies, and travel restrictions is impacting the American workplace and workforce in truly unprecedented ways. Every day, US employers institute facility closures, remote-working, furloughs and, in some cases, layoffs in response to the economic and health impacts of the…