March 25, 2020
At Walter | Haverfield, we understand the difficulties and uncertainties that you’re facing with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to assure you that we are here to help. Our team is committed to providing counsel and advice on a wide range of issues, including:
Labor and Employment: Compliance with Families First Coronavirus Act; regulating employee health and safety, including questions of quarantine, travel restrictions, testing, privacy; leave policies and legal compliance; wage and hour concerns; work-from-home policies; shutdown/layoff issues, including WARN Act compliance; unemployment benefits
Employee Benefits: Implications of Families First Coronavirus Response Act on continuation and payment arrangements during leaves; HIPAA compliance; potential waiver of copays/coinsurance and deductibles for COVID-19 testing and treatment; potential changes to 401 (k) plan hardship and loan provisions; service provider agreements and obligations
Education: Employment issues; leaves; benefits; contracts (certified, classified and supplemental); accommodations, remote work arrangements; FLSA; FMLA; OSHA/ADA requirements; discrimination claims; labor relations issues (MOUs, grievances and bargaining); student issues (student misconduct during remote instruction, student privacy issues); special education issues (provision of services, compliance issues, compensatory education); vendor contract issues; Sunshine Law issues
Hospitality & Liquor Control: Mitigating risk while restaurants and bars are closed, working within rules and regulations to allow for carry-out and delivery, how to incorporate safety measures into kitchen operations, physical premises restrictions, wage and hour considerations, alcohol regulations for carry-out and delivery
Personal Planning: Health care and estate planning documents
Real Estate: Impact of force majeure clauses in real estate-related documents (including leases, purchase and sale agreements, construction contracts) on monetary and non-monetary obligations; declarations of Emergency and Public Health Orders: Compliance with Closure Directives; insurance issues, evictions, foreclosures and other court proceedings; real estate financing document issues including monetary and non-monetary covenants compliance and default
Business Operations: Business interruption; performance delays and force majeure events in contracts; anticipating and negotiating implications in transactions and M&A contracts
Construction: Negotiating and enforcing contract terms addressing force majeure, supply chain disruption, changes for costs of supplies and labor, and excused performance; application of the doctrines of impracticability/commercial frustration and impossibility of performance to existing contract obligations, evaluation of builder’s risk, general liability and similar insurance policies
Litigation: Contract disputes involving COVID-19-related contract non-performance or performance delays, including force majeure events and other supply chain disruptions
Banking and Finance: Force majeure, material adverse effect, cessation of business and other relevant clauses in financing documents
Business Restructuring, Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy: How to effectively address operational, payment and cash-flow difficulties, customer and vendor defaults and insolvency proceedings, and the enforcement of rights and remedies
Environmental: Use of force majeure and similar provisions in environmental statutes, regulations, government orders, or permits by companies to delay, without penalty, required sampling events, remediation deadlines, air permit testing, wastewater record keeping, monitoring, etc.; work-related employee cases of COVID-19 and OSHA’s employee illness and injury record-keeping regulation; planning and implementation of temporary or permanent facility closures
If you are in need of assistance or have questions, please feel free to email us. Or, contact your Walter | Haverfield attorney by visiting our website.