Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.34 on Friday, authorizing businesses to deny entry to individuals not wearing masks or face coverings. This post will briefly explain the background of this proclamation and what it means for New Yorkers. Context After some last-minute confusion brought on by a comment made by the Governor on Thursday, Central […]
Discretionary permitting decisions made by public bodies in the State of New York often must go through a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) procedure to ensure the public body considers potential adverse environmental and community effects of the project before granting permission to build. One facet of the SEQR process often involves the holding […]
Steps To Forgiveness Previously, we reported that on Thursday, April 16, 2020, the $349 billion that funded the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) were depleted. More than 1.6 million applications were approved for an amount of almost $339 billion, with an average loan amount of $239,152. California, […]
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The purpose of the CARES Act was to help America’s economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the CARES Act is over 800 pages and has many different benefits, two loans that the Small Business Administration […]
On March 27, Congress passed the largest stimulus bill (or emergency relief, depending on who you ask) in United States history. We previously provided an update covering one aspect of the CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides relief to small businesses in the form of subsidized loans. This update will provide an overview […]
On March 21st. Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.9 directing the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to create emergency regulations to provide some much-needed cushion to New Yorkers who have suffered financially as a result of the Covid-19 emergency and response. On March 24, DFS promulgated the new regulations with the aim of […]
In 2011 the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act was placed into effect and amended in 2015. The Act requires New York businesses to give specific wage notices to employees at least 7 days prior to any change, unless the business issues a new paystub. Another example of the requirement is that businesses must provide […]
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about how COVID-19 is impacting our clients’ businesses. Today, let’s talk about something called “force majeure” and what it might mean for your business contract. So what is force majeure? It’s basically a term in contract law and it can be used to excuse a party’s obligations under […]
On March 20th Governor Cuomo announced, “New York on PAUSE,” further extending executive orders 202.6 and 202.7. The result of these actions is sending businesses across New York into an uncharted territory. These executive orders, when read together, require all employers to reduce their “in-person workforce at any work locations by 100% no later than […]
On February 21, the Governor introduced the Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act for inclusion into the 2020 budget. Its goal is to streamline the process for approving large-scale (sometimes called (utility-scale) renewable energy projects. Currently, projects that anticipate generating under 25 megawatts are required to go through a local permitting process featuring SEQR […]