The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board has voted to approve a Final Permanent Standard (Final Standard) related to COVID-19. It is anticipated that Governor Northam will soon approve the Final Standard, which sets forth health and safety requirements related to COVID-19 for all Virginia employers and is expected become effective on January 27, 2021.…
Read More »Although they may not be offering immunity, a number of other states are offering additional business assistance programs and loosening their purse strings with more funds for business relief. In that vein, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed legislation last week that provides up to $14 billion in corporate tax relief to businesses in the…
Read More »Apparently incapable of recognizing the unprecedented difficulties that fast food franchisees are facing throughout the course of the coronavirus pandemic, New York City seems intent on adding misery to misery. Just before the Christmas holiday, the New York City Council passed a pair of bills targeting franchised fast food chains. The first – and perhaps…
Read More »Effective early this week, the state of Virginia imposed still even more stringent face-covering requirements on all businesses across the state. The new mandate, which went into effect on December 14, requires all individuals age five or older to wear face masks at all times in settings shared by others – indoors or outdoors –…
Read More »As we approach the end of 2020, (aka the year from Hell) we note a number of other order that some governors, mayors, county executive or other elected officials have mandated that we weren’t able to include elsewhere and thought it would be best to just run through them. In that vein, Philadelphia Mayor Jim…
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Presidents and presidential candidates come and go, with this year’s election no different than many others in our country’s history in that regard. But many of the issues Dunkin’ franchise owners care about are not solely or even principally determined in Washington, D.C. Rather, state lawmakers and their counterparts on the local level – city…
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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought small business numerous challenges. We can now add another to the list: Employees filing increasing numbers of COVID-19 related lawsuits. In fact, according to the Fisher Phillips Employment Litigation Tracker, as of November 1, COVID-19 related lawsuits have been filed against 950 employers. The highest number of lawsuits were filed…
Read More »Responding to the latest spike in COVID-19 cases in the Garden State, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed another executive order last week that became effective yesterday, November 5, 2020. The new order applies to all employers that allow or require that their employees be physically present in the workplace during their shift. Executive Order…
Read More »Restaurant owners out in California have initiated formal requests for rebates on funds they’ve paid to the state, county or municipality for permits, liquor fees, etc. since they have not been legally able to operate. Currently, most restaurants in the state are limited to 25% of capacity, and even under the best of COVID circumstances,…
Read More »In other venues, similar court actions have taken place over the past couple of weeks. We advised you just over one month ago about the federal court in Pittsburgh invalidating a statewide shutdown and stay-at-home order by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Well, last Friday Governor Wolf made good on his promise to veto HB 2513,…
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