Publications — Page 16 of 47 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

Kathleen M. Connelly Featured in ROI-NJ Article Titled ‘Panel: 1st Day Back in Office Should be about Education, Not Production’

Published on: June 11, 2020 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Lindabury partner Kathleen M. Connelly of the firm’s Employment Law group discussed with ROI-NJ the question her clients have been asking most in regard to office reopenings, which is how to deal with employees who are reluctant to return to work due to a generalized fear of COVID contraction. While employees returning to the workplace continue to have significant leave protection for COVID and non-COVID absences through December of 2020, employees can still be terminated if they refuse to return to work, and there are certain ways employers can communicate and accommodate their staff, which is also outlined in the article.

You can read the entire transcript here.

The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act Makes Critical Changes to the Paycheck Protection Program

Published on: June 9, 2020 | by James K. Estabrook

On June 5, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (“PPPFA”) was signed into law. The PPPFA is aimed at providing borrowers with additional flexibility to maximize forgiveness of loans received under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) established as part of the CARES Act. The following provisions of the PPPFA are highlighted below for your consideration:

Extension of Application Period: The PPPFA extends the final date by which PPP loans can be made from June 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020. However, a congressional letter clarifies that June 30, 2020 remains the last day for accepting and approving PPP loans. Although additional guidance may be issued on whether applications will be accepted until December 31, 2020, employers should err on the side of caution and apply for loans prior to June 30, 2020.
Repayment Term is Extended: For those PPP loans originated on or after the date of enactment of the PPPFA, the repayment term for the unforgiven portion of the loan is extended from two to not less than five years. However, borrowers and lenders may mutually agree to expand the repayment period under existing loans (entered into prior to enactment of the PPPFA).

‘Cyber Security Best Practices During the Covid-19 Pandemic’ Webinar Presented by Eric B. Levine for The Suburban Chamber of Commerce

Published on: June 8, 2020 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

This webinar addresses best practices to protect yourself virtually during the coronavirus pandemic.

Presented by Eric Levine, Executive Vice President of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook, & Cooper and Co-Chair of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy practice, this virtual presentation was hosted by The Suburban Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Levine works with and creates cybersecurity policies and procedures for corporate leaders as well as with internal cyber-breach response teams that respond to cyber-attacks. He advises corporations and executives on mitigating the impact of cyber-breaches and counseling on post-breach regulatory reporting and client/customer notification duties. Mr. Levine is an accomplished litigator who has trial experience in both state and federal courts. As such, he works with corporations to defend claims brought by plaintiffs affected by cyber-breaches.

Employers Covered by the FFCRA Must Post the DOL’s Employee Rights Poster in the Workplace and Should Issue a Copy of the Poster to Employees

Published on: May 29, 2020 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”) requiring employers with 500 or less employees to provide paid sick leave and paid family leave to qualified employees affected by the pandemic. These benefits are in addition to any other earned sick leave, vacation or other paid time off benefits offered by the employer. These additional benefits are temporary and are only available to employees through December 31, 2020.

Posting requirement: Now that employers are preparing for employees to return to the workplace, employers covered by the FFCRA must prominently display the U.S. Department of Labor’s poster entitled Employee Rights – Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a copy of which can be found here.

Distribution of Employee Rights publication: Both the federal and state governments are encouraging employers to continue to permit employees to work remotely to reduce the headcount in the workplace and potential spread of the virus. Covered employers who plan to continue remote work arrangements should therefore distribute the DOL’s Employee Rights publication to these employees, if not to all employees, to ensure employee awareness of leave rights under the FFCRA.

The DOL Issues New Rule Regarding Electronic Disclosure Safe Harbor for Retirement Plans

Published on: May 28, 2020 | by James K. Estabrook and Elizabeth Engert Manzo

On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a final rule allowing employers to post retirement plan disclosures online or furnish them to workers via email. The rule is aimed at reducing administrative expenses for employers and making information more readily available to workers.

ERISA-covered retirement plans must furnish multiple disclosures each year to participants and beneficiaries. The exact number of disclosures per year depends on the specific type of retirement plan, its features, and in some cases the plan’s funding status. To deliver these disclosures electronically, plan administrators were previously required to comply with the regulatory safe harbor established in 2002 under 29 CFR 2520.104b-1(c), which required that disclosures be reasonably calculated to ensure that workers actually received the information, including confirmation that the transmitted information was actually received (e.g., using return-receipt or notice of undelivered electronic mail features, conducting periodic reviews or surveys to confirm receipt of the transmitted information).

On August 31, 2018, Executive Order 13847, entitled Strengthening Retirement Security in America, was issued. The Order directed the DOL to review whether regulatory or other actions could be taken to make retirement plan disclosures more understandable for participants and beneficiaries and to focus on reducing the production and distribution costs that retirement plan disclosures impose on employers. In October 2019, the Department published a proposed regulation with a solicitation for public comment. In response to the commentary received, a final rule creating a new voluntary safe harbor was established. The new safe harbor permits the following two optional methods for electronic delivery:

If I Die Without a Will in NJ, Will My Family Receive My Assets? A Look at the Case of Sally Rosenthal

Published on: May 22, 2020 | by James K. Estabrook

Will your assets pass to family if you die without a Will in New Jersey? Not necessarily. In some cases, a decedent’s property can actually escheat, or revert, to the State of New Jersey when the decedent has living relatives. The only way to ensure that your property is distributed according to your wishes is to execute a Will. While it may be tempting to let estate planning take a back burner to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, having a Will and other necessary estate planning documents helps your loved ones avoid additional hassles at the time of your passing.

Intestacy laws govern what happens to a person’s assets when he or she dies without a Will. Intestacy laws, however, do not interfere with assets that are jointly owned–those go to the survivor; or assets that are subject to a separate designation of beneficiary–those go to the designated beneficiary. In New Jersey, heirs must survive the decedent by at least 120 hours to inherit. New Jersey has adopted an intestacy system that only considers those relatives in the third branch and closer as “heirs” for the purposes of intestate succession. This is known as a parentelic system. The first branch includes the decedent, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The second branch includes decedent’s parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews down the line to great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews. The third and final branch of heirs for purposes of the New Jersey intestacy laws consists of the decedent’s grandparents and descendants of grandparents including aunts, uncles, and first cousins.

It is important to note that if a decedent dies without a Will and has a spouse or domestic partner, that spouse or partner may not inherit the full estate. This debunks the common misconception that if you pass without a Will, your spouse will automatically receive everything. The surviving spouse or partner’s share depends on many things including but not limited to whether the couple had children together, whether there are children from a prior marriage, and whether the decedent has parents who are still living.

Signing Estate Planning Documents During a Pandemic

Published on: May 21, 2020 | by Anne Marie Robbins

The COVID-19 crisis, and its attendant rules of social distancing, face masks, etc. have presented new challenges to estate planning attorneys in the realm of document executions. How are we advising clients who wish to sign their estate planning documents during this pandemic? The usual participants when we meet with clients to execute wills and other documents include the client(s), the attorney who serves as one witness, a staff member who serves as the second witness, and a notary public. Like many other law firms in New Jersey, we have not been meeting with clients in our offices since mid-March. Many of our attorneys, and most of our staff, are working remotely. Hence we cannot easily assemble the normal cast of characters to participate in the execution of client documents. Further, wills and other estate planning documents may not be signed by electronic signature; such documents must be signed in person with a so-called “wet” signature.

Here are some of the ways we have been helping our clients sign their documents in these challenging times.

1. The signing may be handled by the client at home or elsewhere, with execution instructions provided by the attorney:

COVID-19 News: Postponements of Tax Return Filing and Payment Dates

Published on: May 21, 2020 | by Anne Marie Robbins

Federal Law. On April 9, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-23, amplifying earlier Notices 2020-18 and 2020-20. Notice 2020-23 indicates that because of the COVID-19 emergency, the due dates for filing federal tax returns and payment of taxes due on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020 have been postponed to July 15, 2020. The postponements are automatic; taxpayers are not required to take any action, such as filing an extension request, in order to qualify for the relief.

The Notice confirms the grant of additional time to file individual, corporate, partnership, and estate and trust income tax returns to July 15, 2020. Estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax returns and payment due dates have been similarly postponed.

The Notice also clarifies that not only first quarter estimated income tax payments due April 15, but also second quarter estimates due June 15, have a new due date of July 15.

Karolina Dehnhard Interviewed in Polish Publication about How Trade Relations Look Between the U.S. and Poland

Published on: May 20, 2020 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Karolina Dehnard, Managing Director of the International Transaction Group at Lindabury, and President of the Polish-American Chamber of Commerce in the Northeastern USA, was interviewed by Polish publication White Eagle about how the world of business has changed over the past few months and how trade relations between the United States and Poland look today. The interview is available here.

Karolina Dehnhard Interviewed by 60 Million Kongress, An Organization Uniting Polish Business Leaders Worldwide

Published on: May 20, 2020 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Lindabury Divorce & Family Law attorney and Managing Director of the International Transaction Group, Karolina Dehnhard, was interviewed by 60 Million Kongress, an organization uniting Polish business leaders worldwide as part of their series of influential Global Polish leaders discussing both international divorce and business development in Eastern Europe during the pandemic. You can view the interview here.