Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

Businesswoman waving with right hand and holding briefcase in left.On June 5, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (“PPP Flex”) was signed into law. PPP Flex was designed to limit some of the restrictions and provide clarification for the original Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).

Notably, PPP Flex grants borrowers additional time to incur costs that count towards PPP loan forgiveness, reduces the portion of cost that must be allocated to payroll cost, and provides additional exemption from the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act”), the legislation that authorized PPP.

The CARES Act provides that some or all of the borrower’s PPP loan maybe forgiven based on the cost and payments made during what is called the “Cover Period.” The Cover Period begins when the PPP loan is disbursed or, if the borrower elects, from the start of the first regular payroll after the PPP loan is first disbursed. The Cover Period was originally set to be eight (8) weeks; however, under the PPP Flex, the Cover Period may be extended to the earlier of twenty-four (24) weeks after the loan origination or December 31, 2020. Nothing precludes an existing PPP loan borrower from using the original 8-week Cover Period. Under PPP Flex, the percentage that the borrower must use for payroll costs to be eligible for forgiveness was reduced. With the SBA’s final interim rule setting the percentage at 75%, legislators have reduced the amount to 60%, such that now 40% of the loan may be used (during the Cover Period) for certain permitted non-payroll costs such as mortgage interest, rent and utilities. PPP Flex also extends the original 6-month deferral period to up to 10 months after the applicable Covered Period, and extends the maturity date of unforgiven portions of the loans to five (5) years from the date of the forgiveness application.

Green house with red roofOn May 28th, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation A4157, which temporarily extends the deadline for filing property tax appeals and processing decisions in those cases. The legislature believed that, due to the current pandemic, many people were unable to file the appeals by usual April 1 or May 1, 2020 deadlines. As such, the deadline to file an appeal of the assessment of real property is extended to July 1, 2020. The deadline for county boards of taxation to render decisions in tax appeal cases has also been extended, to September 30, 2020. This bill does not apply to certain tax appeals, such as in counties participating in the Demonstration Program or operating under Property Tax Assessment Reform Act. This bill will go into effective immediately and will be applied retroactively to April 1, 2020.

Jacklyn Fetbroyt is a founding member of Kang Haggerty LLC and is currently a committeeperson of the Voorhees Township Committee. Among other things, Jackie focuses on counseling companies and business owners through all stages of their ventures from conception to dissolution, assisting her business clients in all of their needs for maintenance and growth. On Township Committee, Jackie strives to be a resource to and ears of the residents in her hometown. 

In this ever-changing landscape of information and legislation, please be aware that the information contained in this blog post may no longer be relevant or applicable. The content of this post is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion

Business woman holding red notepad

In a changing COVID-19 world filled with new regulations, adjustments, and uncertainty, Kang Haggerty provides services to help our clients avoid litigation or to obtain favorable outcomes in litigation. Some COVID-19 services offered by Kang Haggerty that will help you address COVID-19-related issues include: Continue reading ›

DoctorOn May 15, 2020 Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 145, allowing elective surgeries and elective invasive procedures to resume. Under EO-109,  healthcare facilities were instructed to cease performing all elective surgeries and invasive procedures, intending (largely) to free up PPE and beds.

Continue reading ›

Red four-door car

On May 13, 2020 Governor Murphy issued Executive Order 142, permitting the resumption of non-essential construction, curbside pickup at non-essential retail businesses, and car gatherings for the purpose of drive-through and drive-in events. The construction and non-essential retail provisions will take effect at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, May 18th, while the car gatherings provision will take effect immediately. EO142 reduces and supersedes some of the restrictions that were previously in under Executive Order 107 and 122. Continue reading ›

Woman holding book and thinkingWhile shelter-in-place and other restrictions on business remain in effect due to the pandemic, many expect re-openings (whether gradual, on a timeline, based on industry, or otherwise) are imminent.  If you have not adhered to the old adage to “learn from the past lest it repeat itself” maybe now is a good time to review some of your company policies. Continue reading ›

Illustration of four people maintaining social distancingMay 6, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 138, which extends the Public Health Emergency declared on March 9, 2020 and extended on April 7, 2020. EO138 is intended to extend the public health emergency for 30 additional days to prevent its expiry as required under the Emergency Health Powers Act. As such, the emergency declaration is renewed for another month.

Pursuant to EO138, all previously entered Executive Orders relating to the pandemic remain “in full force and effect” including non-essential business closures of brick & mortar locations, remote work when possible, closures of non-essential construction projects, and aggressive social distancing measures.

The recitals of EO138 provide that, although New Jersey’s social distancing measures have helped to slow the increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the State, the total number of cases and deaths in New Jersey has continued to rise and would rise at an even more precipitous rate absent these important measures.

Illustration of construction worker holding saw and leaning on pole.Although originally slated for May 8, the construction industry in Pennsylvania re-opened a week early on Friday, May 1st, with guidelines imposed by the Commonwealth. All construction businesses authorized to conduct in-person operations in the Commonwealth must adhere to requirements of the guidance, as well as all applicable business and building safety orders issued by the Secretary of Health, though localities may elect to impose more stringent requirements.

The guidance, developed with the assistance of the General Contractors Association of Pennsylvania, includes an array of distancing and cleaning mandates such as:

  • Require social distancing (6-feet minimum distance between workers) unless the safety of the public or workers require deviation (e.g. drywalling, team lifting).

Illustration depicting security deposit. One hand holding house with keys and the other hand holding a sack of money.In New Jersey, Executive Order 128 addresses landlord and tenant issues due to COVID-19. Finding that the earlier EO106 provides some protection to tenants by staying enforcement of all judgments for possession, warrants of removal, and writs of possession while in effect (unless the court determines otherwise), EO128 suggests that there are other consequences in addition to evictions, such as interest and late fees and negative credit reports. Continue reading ›

Hands typing on laptop. Profiles of individuals are coming out of computer to give the illusion of networking/virtually meeting. Coffee cup is on left-hand side and notebook is on right-hand side.In Delaware, Governor John C. Carney issued a Declaration of State of Emergency in connection with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  This month, the Declaration was modified (the Tenth Modification) to address the numerous shareholder meetings to be noticed for Delaware companies. The Tenth Modification, acknowledging that physical gatherings are explicitly discouraged, advise that shareholder meetings be held remotely for the “safety, health and wellbeing of participants”.

Corporations are permitted to adjourn their physical meetings or move to a remote format, provided that certain steps are taken if the date and/or “location” (yes, virtual) are being changed.  Pursuant to § 232 of Title 8 of the Delaware Code, notice of stockholder meetings is usually given through mail, courier service, or email – but the Securities and Exchange Commission is currently allowing companies to provide certain notices via required public filings and press releases. Consequently, to effectuate the change of an annual meeting to a remote format, Delaware corporations should file this notice with the SEC and issue a press release on their websites immediately afterwards.

Although Delaware law already does generally provide that corporations are allowed to hold stockholder meetings remotely, these provisions (e.g. the board of directors has the discretion to decide upon a remote meeting) must be in the corporation’s organizational documents. Consequently, the Tenth Amendment contains crucial provisions for those corporations whose organizational documents may not have been as explicit on these issues. The other provisions of 8 Del. C. § 211, such as the “reasonable measures” to verify the presence and participation of stockholders/proxyholders, as well as record-keeping, have not been changed by the Tenth Amendment.

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