APPLIES TO Businesses with Consumers in CA

EFFECTIVE June 22, 2020

QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call (888) 378-2456

Website accessibility is an increasingly hot topic. As of January 1, 2020, businesses subject to the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) must make the required consumer notices and information that are posted on company websites reasonably accessible to consumers with disabilities.  Specifically, businesses must follow generally recognized industry standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 2.1 of June 5, 2018, from the World Wide Web Consortium, or provide information on how a consumer with a disability may access the notices in an alternative format.

More recently, in Martinez v. San Diego County Credit Union, a California Court of Appeal recently stated that accessibility standards for public accommodations, as prescribed in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), can apply to a business’s website in cases where utilizing the website grants access to the business’s physical locations, goods, or services.  There, a visually impaired plaintiff sued a credit union whose website was not easily accessible using screen-reading software.

The court noted that the website housed a store locator and information about the credit union’s services, which made it easier for sighted customers to find physical locations to access service.  The link between the customer’s use of the website and their ability to access the physical location of the website and services triggered the ADA accessibility standard.  Ultimately, the court did not determine if the credit union’s website violated the law, but rather stated there was a potential claim for violation of ADA standards.

Action Items

APPLIES TO All Employers of DACA Recipients

EFFECTIVE June 18, 2020

QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call (888) 378-2456

In Dept. of Homeland Security v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., the U.S. Supreme Court recent ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was improperly ended by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS).

DACA allows certain unauthorized aliens who arrived in the United States as children to apply for a two-year forbearance of removal. Those granted relief become eligible for work authorization and various federal benefits. In June 2017, DHS announced it would no longer accept new applications, but that existing DACA recipients whose benefits were set to expire within six months could apply for a two-year renewal. For all other DACA recipients, previously issued grants of relief would expire on their own terms, with no prospect for renewal.

The Supreme Court said that required procedures were not followed when DHS ended the program, and DHS’s stated grounds for ending the program were insufficient. As a result, DACA recipients may continue to renew membership in the program, which includes work authorization in the U.S. and temporary protection from deportation. Employers should continue to look for updates on this topic should DHS attempt to end the program again.

Action Items

APPLIES TO All Employers with PPP Loans

EFFECTIVE June 5, 2020

QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call (888) 378-2456

HR 7010 recently extended certain provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Flexibility Act of 2020.

• Borrowers can spend up to 40% (formerly 25%) on qualified non-payroll costs, such as rent and utilities costs.
• The time for borrowers to spend loan funds and meet forgiveness requirements has been extended from June 30 to December 31, 2020.
• Loans must now have a minimum maturity of 5 years (rather than 2 years).
• Payments on loans can be deferred until loan forgiveness is given to the lender by the SBA, or 10 months after the end of the covered period if the borrower did not yet request loan forgiveness.
• The time for employers to restore full-time equivalent (FTE) employees to their status and wages in order to qualify for loan forgiveness is extended from June 30 to December 31, 2020.
• Employers who are unable to return to the same level of business activity under certain circumstances or rehire laid off or similarly qualified workers may still qualify for loan forgiveness with sufficient documentation.
• Borrowers can now defer payroll taxes that were previously prohibited under the CARES Act.

Action Items

APPLIES TO All Employers

EFFECTIVE May 12, 2020

QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call (888) 378-2456

Under normal circumstances, employees are typically only able to elect health coverage during open enrollment each plan year, unless the employee experiences qualifying life events.  On May 12, 2020, the IRS issued IRS Notice 2020-29, which suspends the federal rule limiting mid-year plan changes.  Notice 2020-29 allows employers to amend Section 125 plans to permit mid-year changes to coverage for 2020.

Examples of mid-year changes employers may permit include:

• Enrolling in the plan if coverage was previously declined.
• Switching between higher and lower-cost health plan options.
• Switching from coverage levels, e.g., moving from employee and family coverage to individual employee only coverage.
• Increasing or decreasing the amount of contributions allocated to a flexible spending account.
• Dropping health coverage if the employee has other comprehensive coverage, or may obtain coverage immediately through a spouse or marketplace.

In addition to flexibility with plan elections, Notice 2020-29 allows health FSA grace periods that expire in 2020 to be extended through December 31, 2020, providing employees more time to set aside funds for medical expenses that may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Action Items