october 28, 2020
october 22, 2020
October 19, 2020
october 15, 2020
october 12, 2020
october 8, 2020
october 5, 2020
september 22, 2020
september 21, 2020
September 11, 2020
august 4, 2020
july 6, 2020
july 1, 2020
- PPP Loan Deadline May Be Extended as SBA Issues New Rules Relating to Loan Forgiveness and Eligibility
- California Looks to Pass Legislation Concerning Business Interruption Coverage Due to COVID-19
June 29, 2020
June 22, 2020
- PPP Loan Forgiveness Application Forms Updated and Streamlined
- Nevada Division of Insurance to Disallow Policy Exclusions Related to COVID-19
- CDI Announces New Order Regarding Workers’ Compensation Premium Savings for CA Businesses Affected by COVID-19
june 15, 2020
june 10, 2020
- Note to the SBA: Debtors in Bankruptcy Are Eligible for PPP Loans
- California Modifies the Tolling of Statutes of Limitations in Civil Cases
june 8, 2020
June 4, 2020
may 29, 2020
may 28, 2020
may 27, 2020
- Hoteliers Beware: a Return to Business Post-Pandemic Brings With It Potential Legal Liability
- House Contemplates Revisions to the Paycheck Protection Program
may 15, 2020
may 14, 2020
- U.S. House Democrats Introduce HEROES Act, a New $3T Stimulus Package
- SAFE Banking Act for Cannabis-Related Businesses Included in the HEROES Act
may 12, 2020
may 8, 2020
- Treasury and the SBA Issue Guidance Regarding the Employee Retention Credit
- Businesses Reopen in Los Angeles County as Stage 2 of California’s Statewide Plan Begins
- Update: Large Employers Required to Pay Coronavirus-Related Sick Leave Under New L.A. County Ordinance
may 6, 2020
- SBA Extends PPP Certification Safe Harbor to May 14
- EPLI Insurance and Employee Benefits in the Age of the Coronavirus
may 5, 2020
- Update: PPP Guidance Issued by the SBA and U.S. Treasury at Odds With the CARES Act—Michelman & Robinson Files First-of-Its-Kind Lawsuit Challenging FAQs
- NAIC Issues Business Interruption Data Call in the Wake of COVID-19
may 4, 2020
may 1, 2020
april 29, 2020
- Planning for Your Employees' Return to the Workplace
- Los Angeles Hospitality Workers Among Those Thrown a Potential Lifeline
april 24, 2020
- Attention Cannabis Businesses: Hope May Be on the Horizon for Federal COVID-19-Related Relief
- California Department of Insurance Issues Notice Granting Tax-Filing Extension in Response to COVID-19
- SEC Approves Amendments to Nasdaq and NYSE Continued Listing Requirements Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 23, 2020
april 21, 2020
- Additional Funding Is on the Way to Resurrect the PPP
- Certifying Your PPP Loan: Proceed With Caution
april 17, 2020
april 16, 2020
- Employment in the Wake of Coronavirus: EEOC and OSHA Guidance Allows Employers to Go Where They Could Not Go Before
- New Yorkers Ordered to Stay at Home Even Longer Amid the COVID-19 Crisis
- Paycheck Protection Program Funds Exhausted
april 15, 2020
April 14, 2020
- Insurance Companies Have Been Ordered to Provide COVID-19-Related Premium Relief to Businesses and Drivers in California
- What to Do If Your New York Business Has Been Deemed Non-Essential
APRIL 13, 2020
- IP Deadlines and Fees Extended Under the CARES Act
- Employment in the Wake of Coronavirus: Reintegrating Your Workforce in the New Normal
APRIL 10, 2020
- You Successfully Applied for and Received a PPP Loan Under the CARES Act: Now What?
- Safer at Home Order in L.A. Extended to May 15
- Maintaining Your Trade Secrets During the Coronavirus Crisis
APRIL 9, 2020
april 8, 2020
- Congress Looks to Bolster the PPP With Another $250B in Funding
- U.S. Treasury Provides Further Guidance to PPP Borrowers and Lenders
- L.A. Mayor Amends COVID-19-Related Paid Sick Leave Ordinance
april 7, 2020
April 3, 2020
april 2, 2020
april 1, 2020
March 31, 2020
march 30, 2020
- Large Employers Required to Pay Coronavirus-Related Sick Leave Under New L.A. Ordinance
- Insurance Coverage Potentially Triggered by COVID-19
- Attention Insurers: CDI Orders Mandatory Call for Business Interruption Coverage Information in the Wake of COVID-19
- DOL Is Requiring Employers to Post Families First Employee Rights Notice
March 27, 2020
- A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Coronavirus-Related State Assistance Programs: Who is Giving What to Whom (Part II)
- HHS Relaxing Enforcement of HIPAA to Facilitate Sharing of Information During the COVID-19 Crisis
March 26, 2020
march 25, 2020
march 24, 2020
- Navigating the Coronavirus Pandemic: a Critical Business Review Checklist
- SBA Loans for Companies Impacted by Coronavirus
- SEC Relaxes Federal Proxy Rules for Annual Meetings
march 23, 2020
- Federal Reserve Responds Boldly to Coronavirus-Related Economic Downturn
- The Number of Jurisdictions Implementing Stay-at-Home Orders Is Increasing Exponentially
- Michelman & Robinson’s Guide to Coronavirus-Related Paid Sick Leave and Unemployment Insurance Laws in the Tri-State Area
MARCH 21, 2020
MARCH 20, 2020
- New York Governor’s PAUSE Order
- Illinois Governor’s Statewide Stay-at-Home Order
- Force Majeure Clauses in Commercial Real Estate Contracts
MARCH 19, 2020
- SEC Provides Regulatory Relief for Public Reporting Companies
- Student Loan Borrowers Can Breathe a Sigh of Relief, At Least Temporarily
- California Governor's Statewide Stay-At-Home Order
MARCH 18, 2020
- "Shelter in Place" Orders
- Telecommuting in the Age of Coronavirus
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act Just Passed by the Senate and Signed Into Law by the President
MARCH 17, 2020
MARCH 16, 2020
MARCH 5, 2020
Maintaining Your Trade Secrets During the Coronavirus Crisis
RICHARD REICE
APRIL 10, 2020
Many offices around the country are closed and workers are sheltering in place due to government issued quarantine and stay-at-home orders. Nevertheless, employees who can are telecommuting. But as a result, confidential information—once reserved for company servers or desks in the workplace—has now found its way onto personal computers and kitchen tables. Which means the time is ripe to remind your employees of the need to maintain the confidentiality of your sensitive materials.
Toward that end, Michelman & Robinson encourages you to consider the following 10 action items that could serve to protect your trade secrets.
- Reissue—via email—your company’s electronic use and confidentiality policies to all employees. In doing so, make sure the policies specifically speak to the challenges of working from home and the need to remain vigilant. It is important that you remind employees that their obligation to maintain company secrets is ongoing, which means they are not to share confidential information with unauthorized personnel, or give access to their personal or company computers to other members of their household or anyone else while working remotely.
- Educate your employees how to spot phishing attempts or other fraudulent schemes designed to infiltrate company computing systems.
- Work with your IT department to issue protocols for the storage of company documents on personal computers. This may include setting up a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or mobile device management protocol to ringfence company data from personal materials. Private cloud storage is also a viable option to ensure that company-owned information is protected from outside access.
- Insist that employees use strong passwords, and that their computers (1) auto-lock after brief periods of inactivity and (2) are equipped with company-provided anti-virus and protective software. In addition, you should encourage regular backups and establish protocols for immediate reporting of lost or stolen devices. Of course, employees will need to be trained to carry out all of these procedures.
- While employees generally have no right to privacy in the workplace, they do have an expectation of privacy in and to their personal computing devices—their homes as well, even when they become alternate work sites. For this reason, think about having your employees read and sign an online acknowledgement form giving you access to their personal devices for the limited purpose of locating and securing company documents. Within the acknowledgement, you should be transparent as to why the company feels such access is important, and make it clear that the company reserves the right to inspect employee devices if it has reason to suspect a security breach (or in order to conduct a security audit). While you are at it, inform employees about what may and may not get wiped from their devices should their duties change or if they leave the company.
You should understand that accessing your employees’ personal devices is a delicate subject. Thus, before allowing employees to retrieve company data on their own computers, tablets, or smartphones, be sure all parties—management and IT included—are explicitly clear on the aforementioned rules. And to the extent there is crossover between company and personal information on any given device, let your employees know how their private (non-company) data will be protected. - Implement guidelines and an IT hotline to be used if an employee loses a device or suspects he or she has been hacked, or in any instance where company trade secrets or confidential information may have been improperly disclosed or otherwise compromised.
- Institute rules about remote printing, document storage, and the proper disposal of company documents (in file form or hard copy).
- Establish protocols for video conferencing, including security passwords and private spaces. In addition, given recent reporting in the press, be cognizant of issues, if any, regarding the security integrity of your video conference platform.
- While this might seem ripped from a James Bond thriller, participants on video conferences and emails may want to use code names for highly sensitive or confidential products or projects.
- Given our new, higher risk environment, you may want to purchase a policy of cybersecurity insurance. This type of coverage is designed to mitigate losses from a variety of cyber incidents, including data breaches, business interruption, and network damage.
As always, M&R stands ready to help you address all of these issues, including the design of privacy policies and cyber security insurance procurement and evaluation.
We are working diligently to keep our clients up to date on coronavirus-related developments. Nevertheless, these developments are changing daily and, in some cases even hourly, so it is important that you make sure you are dealing with the most current information. That being said, this alert is not offered, and should not be relied on, as legal advice. You should consult an attorney for guidance and counsel regarding any specific concern or situation.