PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - DOL’s Guidance on Continued COVID-19 Timeframe Relief
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
What's Next for the Paycheck Protection Program? by Lindsey Berwick and John Wittenberg
In 2022, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act (the “Act”), raising the debt limits for bankruptcy cases under the Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA,” a.k.a. “Subchapter V”)...more
On October 10, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 723, which moves the expiration the right of recall rights for employees in the hospitality and service industry from December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2025. The...more
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on Aug. 21, 2023, that it was extending its moratorium on the application of the "bona fide office" requirements for construction contracts under its 8(a) Business...more
On July 11, 2023, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) declined to extend its early COVID-19 emergency orders to the time limits established for filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against...more
On May 5, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the previously issued COVID-19 temporary flexibilities allowing for the virtual review of employees’ Form I-9 documents for the Form I-9...more
Check out our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of April 17, 2023 – April 21, 2023...more
On March 23, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that COVID-19–related deadline extensions for responses to agency notices or requests, such as Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to...more
On January 30, 2023, the Biden administration[1] announced that on May 11, 2023 it plans to end the COVID-19 national emergency (Outbreak Period) and public health emergency (Public Health Emergency), which were declared by...more
With the pandemic winding down, deadlines for employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) will be resuming. Two different emergencies affect employer-sponsored group health plans:...more
On January 30, 2023, President Biden announced the Administration’s plan to extend the current declarations of the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE) through May 11, 2023, and end both emergencies...more
Earlier this week, President Biden announced his intent to end both the COVID-19 National Emergency and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Once these emergencies end, group health plans will shed some...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) again extended certain COVID-19-related flexibilities, this time through March 23, 2023. However, USCIS anticipates that this will be the final extension for these...more
On January 11, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services extended the COVID-19 public health emergency through at least April 11, 2023. This is the twelfth extension of the PHE since January 2020. HHS last renewed the...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently extended until July 31, 2023, the temporary policy allowing remote verification of Form I-9 documents for employees...more
The federal contractor vaccine requirement is back in the news. As T. Scott Kelly and Emily Halliday discussed, in late August 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit narrowed the coverage of a previously...more
Due to continued health and safety precautions related to Covid-19, on October 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced its extension of...more
Our October update includes new case law on Long Covid/disability discrimination, confirmation of limits on the scope of protected philosophical beliefs, and a tricky case on extending discrimination time limits. It also...more
On October 13, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally renewed the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days....more
While many in the U.S. have attempted to resume a sense of normalcy despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for employer-sponsored health plans, special “emergency” pandemic rules and extensions remain in effect. As previously...more
Last year on March 12, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed New York State legislation that granted employees paid time off to receive their COVID-19 vaccination (the Law), as we previously reported. ...more
On August 2, 2022, the Seattle City Council voted to repeal the city’s $4 per hour COVID-19 pandemic “hazard pay” requirements related to grocery employees. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell approved the measure the next...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2022-27, providing a six-month extension of the temporary relief from the physical presence requirement for certain plan elections (including spousal consents) required to be witnessed by a plan...more
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, agencies involved in the implementation and enforcement of immigration law have relaxed certain filing and other requirements. The U.S. Citizenship and...more
On July 25, 2022, the flexibility period for responding to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requests and for filing forms I-290B and N-336 will expire. USCIS had previously stated in an announcement on March...more
On April 25, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an extension of a policy that provides flexibility on how employers complete Form I-9. The policy allows employers to skip the in-person inspection of Form I-9...more