COVID-19

Jenner & Block has been named to The American Lawyer’s 2024 A-List, an annual list highlighting the 20 most well-rounded firms according to both financial and cultural criteria.

On January 30, 2023, the Biden administration[1]  announced that on May 11, 2023 it plans to end the COVID-19 national emergency (Outbreak Period) and public health emergency (Public Health Emergency), which were declared by the Trump administration in 2020. Since their institution, the emergency declarations have been extended many times without indication of a true sunset. Currently, the Outbreak Period will expire on March 1, 2023, and the Public Health Emergency will expire on April 11, 2023

Jenner & Block Partners Christine Braamskamp, Samuel L. Feder, David M. Kroeger are serving in a variety of leadership and speaking roles at the IBA Annual Conference in Miami.

Partners Matthew Haws and Ishan Bhabha and Associate Sati Harutyunyan discuss the practical effects of the 11th Circuit recent federal contractor vaccine mandate decision in Law360. Their article addresses the three key questions every government contractor should be asking:

The last two weeks have brought a flurry of activity and changes to the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) Guidance issued pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order 14042 (EO). (See our prior alerts on the EO and Task Force Guidance here and here.) As government contractors work to understand and implement these requirements, they have been left interpreting a number of White House press statements and updates to Q&As available on the Task Force website. Here is a brief summary

The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) issued its much anticipated guidance to federal contractors pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order 14042 (EO), which we covered here. Simply put: the Task Force imposes a broad requirement that contractor employees get vaccinated—whether they are full-time or part-time; whether they work at a contractor workplace, Federal workplace, or from their homes; and whether they work directly on a government contract, indirectly, or only at the s

In July 2021, a Jenner & Block team consisting of Partner Dawn Smalls; Associates Jacob D. Alderdice, Ali I. Alsarraf, and Andrew C. Elliott; and Paralegal Grace Liberman, partnering with The Legal Aid Society, won a TRO against the City of New York, securing a pause to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to move homeless New Yorkers who had been placed in single- or double-occupancy rooms in local hotels throughout the COVID-19 pandemic back into congregate shelter without adequate notice and an ind

In an interview with the Turnaround Management Association’s Chicago/Midwest Chapter, Jenner & Block Partner Melissa M. Root discussed how the pandemic has shaped the past year. She recalled leaving the office in March of 2020, not knowing that she would be working remotely for more than a year. She pointed to industries that have been stressed by the pandemic, including hospitality and transportation, but noted that individual bankruptcies were actually low last year due to government support

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for legal professionals and testifying experts in the courtroom. As a result, advancements in technology were dramatically accelerated, as courts and the insolvency and restructuring community sought to respond to the resulting fallout from the crisis. 

On March 12, 2021, OSHA took two significant new actions to enhance its enforcement actions regarding COVID-19 workplace safety: (1) establishing the National Emphasis Program – COVID-19 (the NEP) targeting higher hazard industries for OSHA enforcement action; and (2) updating and replacing its former Interim Enforcement Response Plan for COVID-19 (the Enforcement Plan) to prioritize in-person worksite inspections by OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHO). This action is in response t

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantial hardship across the globe, including significant and widespread economic distress. The hardship has impacted the nations’ landlords small and large. For example, according to a January 2021 report published by Moody’s Analytics, 18% of renters nationwide—more than 10 million people—are behind on rental payments. That is more than triple of an average year.

On his first full day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety, which required OSHA to “consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19, including with respect to masks in the workplace, are necessary,” and if so, to issue such emergency temporary standards (ETS) by March 15, 2021. Executive Order 13999, § 2(b) (Jan. 21, 2021), 86 FR 7211 (Jan. 26, 2021). An ETS, which skips the initial notice and comment process before it is in e

On the afternoon of November 30, 2020, the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) issued the final approval, allowing the emergency COVID-19 regulation proposed by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) and approved by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Board) on November 19. The emergency regulation, establishing new sections 3205, 3205.1 through 3205.4 to Title 8, Division 1, Chapter 4 (General Industry Safety Orders) of the Cali

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, claims for unemployment insurance benefits have surged. However, alongside genuine claims filed with the joint state-federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) program and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits have skyrocketed. Companies throughout the United States have reported an unusual uptick in their receipt of fraudulent unemployment benefits forms or notices of claims for unemployment ben

On October 21, 2020, the CDC published a new definition of “Close Contact” for contact tracing purposes. This new definition will affect how employers determine Close Contacts for purposes of internal contract tracing to limit and prevent exposures and spread of the coronavirus within the workplace. Quoting from the CDC link:

On September 21, 2020, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued updated guidance on whether certain perquisites, or perks, provided to executive officers as a result of the ongoing pandemic are required to be considered “all other compensation” and potentially disclosed in the company’s proxy statement. As companies have shifted to remote working arrangements due to COVID-19, public companies considered whether the provision of certain perks to their executives required for working from

In response to unrestrained growth in COVID-19 cases and testing limitations in March 2020, nearly all colleges and universities closed their physical campuses to students and transitioned to online learning. Many universities are eager to reopen their campuses to students and others for some limited in-person activities and classes this fall. In addition to social distancing, cloth masks, and symptom monitoring, the ability to and practice of testing persons for active COVID-19 infection will p

The pandemic is a great time to revisit and highlight the utility of submission agreements—agreements that allow parties without pre-existing arbitration clauses to choose to submit a particular dispute to arbitration.

In light of the enormous disruptions caused to institutions of higher education by the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities are facing myriad hard choices regarding the fall semester.  College athletics poses a particular challenge given the inevitable close contact required between student athletes.  Many universities are therefore considering altering, shortening, or eliminating seasons and post-season conferences.  As they do so, however, they must keep in mind the possibility of equi

On June 10, 2020, in a series of six “frequently asked questions and answers” (Face Coverings FAQs), OSHA provided its first general guidance on the use of cloth face coverings in the workplace.  In announcing the FAQs, OSHA’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Loren Swett, stated that it was issuing the guidance because “millions of Americans will be wearing masks in their workplace for the first time” and “OSHA is ready to help workers and employers understand how to properly use masks so t