COVID-19

Employers have been facing unprecedented issues  with very little guidance from federal or state authorities. Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have provided guidance for COVID-19 screening and business reopening protocols, inevitable wage and hour implications have been largely left out.  Moreover, courts provide… Read More

Employees who return to the workplace after months of teleworking in the comfort of their own homes will likely be anxious about working in close proximity with their co-workers and may draw inappropriate conclusions regarding which co-workers are more likely to contract or spread the virus to others in the workplace. In anticipation of these issues, employers must take reasonable… Read More

Labor & Employment In recent weeks the Small Business Administration (SBA) has taken important steps to clarify key, but otherwise not well understood provisions of the PPP enacted under the CARES Act. Most recently, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (PFA) was signed into law. The PFA appears both to supplement and possibly supersede some of the prior… Read More

Financial Services On April 23, 2020, California Governor signed Executive Order N-57-20, which exempts garnishment for any individuals receiving federal, state or local government financial assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including payments under the CARES Act. Executive Order N-57-20 was issued pursuant to the Governor’s powers to suspend regulatory statutes and agency rules during a state of emergency.… Read More

Financial Services Law A bill now before California’s legislature would require servicers suspend borrowers’ payment obligations on home loans for a year and for six months or more on car contracts or loans. The bill would also ban foreclosure, eviction and repossession until six months after the date of the state declares an end of the COVID-19 emergency. [1] Assembly… Read More

On April 19, 2020, Plaintiffs BSJA, Inc. and Alexhd, LLC, filed a class action lawsuit against a national lender in the United States District Court, Central District of California (case number 2:20-cv-03588-ODW-JC). Plaintiffs are represented by the Stalwart Law Group. Plaintiffs allege that the defendant-lender reshuffled PPP applications and failed to make loans on a “first come, first served basis”… Read More

On April 20, 2020, Outlet Tile Center filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court, Central District of California (case number 2:20-cv- 03603) against a national lender and the Small Business Administration (named as the United States of America). Plaintiff was represented by Tauler Smith LLP. The complaint was dismissed on April 28, 2020. The named plaintiff… Read More

Brunner Accounting Group filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court, Central District of California, on May 8, 2020 (case number 2:20-cv-04235) against a number of defendant-lenders. Plaintiffs are represented by Graylaw Group, Inc., and Dhillon Law Group Inc. The named plaintiff is a sole proprietorship that allegedly provides tax and accounting services in Glendale, California. Plaintiff… Read More