According to Business Insider, Dollar General is paying their employees to get the COVID vaccine, but is that legal? 

Back in 2017, the federal courts, in AARP v. EEOC, addressed the issue of paying employees for participation in wellness programs and found that both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act were violated because the incentives permitted rendered the programs not voluntary, as required by law. The incentive, at issue in the case, was "up to 30% of the cost of self-only coverage." 

How does that comport with what Dollar General is now doing? 

They are offering four hours of pay to their employees. 

Is that too much to make participation voluntary? 

Ironically, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is proposing a new regulation about this voluntary standard in the Federal Register for public comment. This new regulation proposes to change the 30% incentive limit (as addressed in the federal case above) to a de minimis incentive limit. In fact, the regulation gives examples of a permitted de minimis incentive, like a water bottle or modest gift card.

Isn't four hours of pay worth a lot more than a water bottle? Is Dollar General going to get sued for this program. What do you think? 

How do you get your Paycheck Protection Program Second Draw Loan? 

The rules are out now and here are the top 10 rules that you should know:

1. Last day to apply & receive a new PPP is March 31, 2021;
2. To qualify, you must use or will use full amount of your First Draw PPP loan on or before disbursement of second loan; 
3. SBA may forgive up to the full principal loan amount; 
4. Interest rate is 1%; 
5. Maturity is 5 years; 
6. Borrower must have 300 or fewer employees;
7. Borrower must have experienced a revenue reduction of 25% or greater in 2020 relative to 2019 (quarterly comparison); 
8. When comparing 2020 relative to 2019, any forgiveness amount of a First Draw PPP Loan that a borrower received in calendar year 2020 is excluded from a borrower's gross receipts (not disqualified from the second loan because of the first one);
9. Each hotel, restaurant, or news organization with a location owned by a parent business in a separate legal business entity and employing not more than 300 employees is permitted to apply for a separate PPP loan; and
10. Maximum loan amount = 2.5 months of the borrower's average monthly payroll costs.

• You can get a second loan
• What the qualifications are to apply
• What size businesses can apply
• How this works with taxes
• If the first loan needs to be forgiven to get the second loan

During the last two weeks of his Presidency, Trump's Department of Labor just revised the test for whether an individual is an independent contractor or employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

This is significant because employees are entitled to minimum wage and overtime whereas independent contractors are not. 

If an employer misclassifies a staff member as an independent contractor when such staff member should be classified an employee, it can result in a devastating blow to the employer who will be exposed to statutory penalties, back pay, attorneys' fees and more. 

Now, Trump's government is using the "economic reality" test to determine employee status. 

According to the government, "the ultimate inquiry is whether, as a matter of economic reality, the worker is dependent on a particular individual, business, or organization for work (and is thus and employee) or is in business for him- or herself (and is thus an an independent contractor)." 

Under this test, the Department of Labor or a Court hearing the case will look to five distinct factors to answer the test. However, two of those factors now have more probative value in answering the question than the rest. These two key factors are:

1. The nature and degree of the worker's control over the work; and
2. The worker's opportunity for profit or loss. 

We are updating our platforms for 2021 and are now encouraging unrestricted commenting. 

Say what you want and share as you feel comfortable. This platform is for you - the business community. 

We promise to do our best to answer your questions and participate in the discussion.

Please know that there is no attorney / client relationship established by participating in this blog and it is a public, non-confidential, forum. So, watch what you say because the world will know. No spam, discrimination, or harassment will be tolerated and all are welcome.

Together, we are going to reemerge as a stronger business community in 2021. 

Here is to a great year!

Does it shock you to learn that from January through October 2020, of the 13,527 examinees, only 59% passed the Real Estate Salesperson exam?

Brokers did a little better - of the 1,098, 66% passed.

Isn't that low? 

How do we get brokers to pass at a higher rate?

Would it help if the state released past exams? That makes sense, doesn't it? How can you study otherwise?

On December 28, 2020, Governor Cuomo signed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 (“Act”). Essentially, the Act provides tenants with an opportunity to submit a Hardship Declaration, which stays most evictions until May 1, 2021. The second part of the Act which provides for mortgage foreclosure relief is discussed in a separate blog HERE.

The Details:

• Essentially, once a tenant provides a Hardship Declaration, the eviction is stayed until May 1, 2020.
• The Act applies to residential nonpayment AND holdover eviction proceedings.
• The Act does not apply to tenants of seasonal rentals with a primary residence to return to and tenants who infringe on other tenants' use and enjoyment of the premises or pose a substantial safety hazard to others, but only upon the landlord proving same.
• To qualify, a tenant must provide the Hardship Declaration and must declare that they are suffering a financial hardship, such as:
• Significant loss of income
• Increase in necessary out-of-pocket expenses due to COVID-19
• Childcare responsibilities or care for the elderly, disabled, or sick family member
• Moving expenses and difficult relocating
• Other circumstances negatively affecting the ability to find meaningful employment
• Vacating the premises and moving into new permanent housing poses a significant health risk
• Sample hardship declarations will be available on the Office of Court Administration website.
• New Eviction Proceedings - upon a Tenant's submission to the landlord of the Hardship Declaration, the landlord is prohibited from commencing any eviction proceeding until May 1, 2021. The landlord can commence an eviction proceeding if the landlord files the following:

On 12/28/2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 became law. 

This law effectively stops all residential foreclosures in NYS until May 1, 2021, but it does nothing about the borrower's obligation to repay their loan.  

Do you think that makes sense?

Isn’t that just delaying the inevitable foreclosure crisis?

Shouldn't something be done about the loan too? 

Here is how the law works – a homeowner needs to submit a hardship declaration to their lender and magic, no more foreclosure until May.

The Details:

o   Either the court or lender (depending on foreclosure status) must provide the borrower with a statement explaining the law.

o   To qualify, a borrower must be suffering a financial hardship including, such as

§  A significant loss of household income;

§  Increase in necessary expenses;

§  Childcare responsibilities;

§  Moving expenses; and/or

§  Other circumstances negatively affecting the borrower’s ability to find meaningful employment.

o   Sample hardship declarations will be available on the Office of Court Administration website.

o   New Foreclosures – If the borrower does not provide the declaration, the lender is required to file all sorts of documents to commence a foreclosure proceeding, including:

§  Affidavit of Service of the Hardship Declaration in English and in the borrower’s primary language.

§  Affidavit of Service of RPAPL 1303 and 1304 notices; and

§  Affidavit of the Petitioner/Petitioner’s agent attesting that the Petitioner or his agent did not receive a Hardship Declaration from the Borrower.

o   Existing Foreclosures – Paused (stayed) for at least 60 days to provide the borrower time to complete and submit the hardship declaration.

o   This also stops foreclosure sales if the case already was decided by the court in a judgment.

Make no mistake, this new law does NOT excuse borrowers from paying the mortgage. 

So, what is the point? 

Isn’t it misleading borrowers into digging an even bigger financial hole?

What do you think? 

The New York City Council recently passed two (2) bills which, once enacted, will end "at will" employment (employees can be fired for any reason with or without cause) for employees in the NYC fast food industry. Rather, employers in the fast food industry may only lawfully terminate employees for "Just Cause" or for "Bona Fide Economic Reasons" as explained below:

1)  "Just Cause": New York City Council Bill,  Int. No. 1415-A  prohibits fast food industry employers in NYC from terminating an employee's employment, who has been employed longer than thirty (30) days, or reduce their weekly hours by more than 15% without "Just Cause" which is defined as: "failure to satisfactorily perform job duties or misconduct that is demonstrably and materially harmful to the fast food employer’s legitimate business interests." 

Factors used to determine whether an employee was terminated for Just Cause include: whether the employee violated the employer's policy, the employee's knowledge of the applicable rule/policy, training provided to the employee, whether an adequate investigation was conducted and whether progressive discipline was reasonably applied. Notably, absent egregious conduct by the employee, a termination will not considered to be for Just Cause unless the employer has a pre-established written policy on progressive discipline and can demonstrate that it is reasonable and was properly applied with respect to the terminated employee (employers may not rely upon discipline issued more than a year before the termination). Employers must provide the employee, within five (5) days of termination, with a written explanation of all the reasons for termination of employment.

2) "Bona Fide Economic Reasons": New York City Council Bill, Int. No. 1396-A permits fast food industry employers to terminate an employee or reduce their weekly hours by more than 15% for "Bona Fide Economic Reasons" which is defined as "the full or partial closing of operations or technological or organizational changes to the business in response to the reduction in volume of production, sales or profit." An employer's decision to terminate an employee based on Bona Fide Economic Reasons must be supported by the employer's business records. If the employer does possess a Bona Fide Economic Reason for terminating employees, employees must be terminated "in reverse order of seniority." In addition, an employer may not hire a new employee or increase a current employee's hours unless the employer first makes a reasonable effort to reinstate any employees terminated for economic reasons within the prior twelve (12) month period. 

Aggrieved employees may bring a civil action for discharges in violation of these bills or, after January 1, 2022, may bring an arbitration proceeding. Employers bare the burden of proving that the termination was for Just Cause or for Bona Fide Economic Reasons. If the employer fails to meet its burden, the employee may be reinstated, awarded backpay, reasonable attorneys fees and punitive damages. The employer may also be assessed civil penalties. 

It is imperative that fast food industry employers consult with counsel and create/modify applicable polices to ensure they are in compliance with these new bills prior to the effective date (180 days after enacted).