Client Alerts

Michigan property owners should have received their real property tax Notice of Assessment earlier this year.  Property owners may find that they are being assessed using inflated taxable values, especially if they have not recently appealed their property tax assessments.

There is much in the news in the past month or so concerning so-called "Compassionate Release" of inmates who are serving their sentences in U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) institutions, largely due to concerns over COVID -19 spread among the prisoner population and staff at those institutions.  

On May 16, 2020, the SBA released its long-awaited forgiveness application that includes detailed guidance on calculating how much of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan may be forgiven. 

On May 18, 2020, the SBA issued a new “Interim Final Rule” (Docket Number SBA-2020-0030) providing a safe harbor for certain borrowers who may have misunderstood the SBA’s foreign affiliation rules under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

Updates to the Michigan COVID-19 Response Include Creation of Regions Allowing More “Resumed Activities” and a Separate Order Defining “Safeguards to Protect Michigan’s Workers from COVID-19”

This morning, after two previous publications, Mexico’s Secretary of Health published in Mexico’s Official Gazette another resolution amending the May 14th resolution, which designated companies performing mining, construction, and transportation equipment manufacturing activities as essential. Unfortunately, the text of today’s resolution is still ambiguous and raises several questions.

With Executive Order 2020-77, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer permitted manufacturing to reopen as of May 11th, though many plants announced that they would not be prepared to do so until May 18th. Prior to this latest iteration of the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Orders, other industries—such as lawn care, construction, real estate, and other select industries—have also been permitted to reopen. But, there are certain requirements for those who do.   

Employers now have an additional method to help their employees who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many may assume that in a downturn—when a focus may naturally be on cutting costs within organizations—companies are less likely to engage in (potentially) costly litigation

Yesterday, we published an alert outlining the details of Mexico’s plan to resume its economic activities. At the time the alert was sent, Mexico’s Official Gazette had not yet published the official resolutions with the exact dates. This morning, the official resolutions were published.

On May 13, 2020, the Mexican government announced its plan to return to a new normal beginning on June 1, 2020. Since Mexico’s March 31st order, the majority of businesses in Mexico have been closed due to mitigation efforts to curve the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The plan will be implemented gradually and rolled out in three phases starting on May 18.

While many parts of the economy and the country are beginning to reopen for business, many companies still find themselves shutdown, working at partial capacity, working from home, or otherwise not working at full throttle.

On May 7, 2020, Governor Whitmer extended Michigan’s Stay-Home Order through May 28th.

Today, Michigan’s Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, opened up manufacturing in Michigan as a part of an overall extension of the state’s series of Stay Home, Stay Safe orders.

On April 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) along with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued a joint final rule extending specific deadlines affecting COBRA continuation coverage, special enrollment periods, claims for benefits, appeals of denied claims, and external review of certain claims. Simultaneously, the DOL issued guidance in the form of Notice 2020-01 (the "Notice") extending the deadline for issuing certain notices required under ERISA. The joint final rule and the Notice are summarized in this E-News Alert. 

As employers begin to resume or work on plans to resume business operations in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, a critical issue will be the extent to which employees have a legal right to refuse to report for work or to perform assigned work tasks, out of a claimed fear of COVID-19 exposure.

On April 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Romag Fasteners v. Fossil Inc. In short, the issue was whether proof of willful infringement was a required element before an infringer’s profits could be awarded. The decision was unanimous, and the answer was no.

Remember the money provided with “no strings attached”? On April 21, 2020, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a proposed rule that would amend the Civil Money Penalties (CMP) regulations to address the 21st Century Cures Act amendment to the CMP Law authorizing penalties and exclusions upon individuals and entities that engage in fraud and other misconduct related to HHS “grants, contracts and other agreements”.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) included $100 billion in Provider Relief Funds (PRF) to healthcare providers, to be released in several phases by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These payments are not loans and do not have to be repaid if certain requirements are met.

The COVID-19 pandemic, in combination with various stay-at-home orders attempting to “flatten the curve” and to avoid new surges, has forced employers and health care issuers to adapt to statutory and regulatory changes to covered group health care plans.