Mansour Gavin LPA | Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Environment Health and Safety
 

Governor Mike DeWine Issues ‘Stay at Home’ Order for all of Ohio

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH),  issued a ‘Stay at Home’ order for all of Ohio today. The order mandates that all persons stay at home unless engaged in essential business. The order goes into effect Monday, March 23 at 11:59 p.m. and remains in effect until April 6 when officials will reassess the situation.

View the list of essential businesses or read the stay at home order here.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Act”) was recently passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Trump on March 18, 2020. The final version of the Act contains some changes compared to the version first passed by the House of Representatives on March 14, 2020, but is still designed to provide support for employees who are unable to work due to COVID-19 quarantines, school closings, and closing of childcare facilities.

The Act allows for employees to receive paid family and medical leave (FMLA) and sick leave through December 31, 2020. Both the FMLA and sick leave protections apply only to private employers with fewer than 500 employees. Critically, the final version of the Act allows for the U.S. Department of Labor to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the Act’s requirements, but only in the Department’s discretion and where the provision would jeopardize the viability of the business to continue.

A summary of the Act’s provisions are as follows:

The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act – applies to all employers with less than 500 employees and allows all employees sick leave as follows:

The Act entitles full-time employees up to 80 hours of leave and part-time employees with leave equal to their average number of hours worked over a two-week period. An employee will be compensated at their regular rate for leave, except that they will be paid for two-thirds of their regular rate to care for a child whose school has closed. There are new caps in the final version of the Act that limit pay to employees at a maximum of $511 per day and $5,110 total. For those that are caring for a child whose school has closed, those caps are reduced to $200 per day and $2,000 total.

The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act – a new federal emergency paid leave program will require employers with less than 500 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for those unable to work because they are caring for a child due to coronavirus-related school closings. Leave will be unpaid for the first ten (10) days, unless the employee chooses to substitute paid time off. After the first ten (10) day period, employers will be required to provide employees with partially paid leave at two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate. Moreover, the employer must restore the employee to the same or equivalent position after leave expires. This provision does not apply to an employer with fewer than 25 employees if the employee’s position has been eliminated due to economic conditions caused by the public health crisis during the leave period.

Now that the Act has been signed into law, it will go into effect no later than fifteen (15) days following the President’s signature (or by Thursday, April 2, 2020).

If you have any questions on how to prepare your business for these changes, the Labor and Employment team at Mansour Gavin is available to assist you.

On Saturday, March 14, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Act”). It will become law if it is approved by the Senate and signed by the White House, which has already voiced support for it. The goal of the Act is to provide additional assistance for those impacted by their inability to work due to COVID-19 quarantines, school closings, and closing of childcare facilities. Employees will be eligible to receive paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave through December 31, 2020.

In short, the bill provides:

1.   The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act – applies to all employers with less than 500 employees and allows all employees sick leave as follows:

The Act entitles full-time employees to 80 hours of leave and part-time employees with leave equal to their average number of hours worked over a two-week period. An employee will be compensated at their regular rate for leave, except that they will be paid for two-thirds of their regular rate to care for a family member who is self-quarantined or a child whose school has closed.

2.  The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act – a new federal emergency paid leave program will require employers with less than 500 employees (with authority to exempt employers with 50 or fewer employees) to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for those unable to work because they have been diagnosed with coronavirus and/or are quarantined, are caring for a family member who was exposed or has symptoms of coronavirus, or are caring for a child due to coronavirus-related school closings. Leave will be unpaid for the first fourteen (14) days, unless the employee chooses to substitute paid time off. After the first fourteen (14) day period, employers will be required to provide employees with partially paid leave at two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate.

The Act does not provide guidance to employers with more than 500 employees. In addition, the Act provides for additional funds to be directed to state unemployment insurance programs. In Ohio, for example, the Governor’s anticipated executive order will provide a temporary expansion of Ohio’s unemployment benefits due to unemployment related to coronavirus including waiving the unemployment waiting period and job search requirements, allowing benefits to those who are quarantined, are taking care of children home from school due to emergency coronavirus closures, or are impacted by a business closure due to coronavirus.

We will continue to monitor and inform you of these legislative changes as they happen.

For questions regarding how the Act may impact your company, please contact Mansour Gavin’s Labor and Employment Group.

Tatyana Pishnyak has joined Mansour Gavin’s business and corporate law group where she will focus her practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions. She brings extensive experience in purchases and sales of professional practices as well as consulting doctors and other professionals on various employment law issues.

Tatyana advises clients on general corporate matters, such as corporate entity selection and formation and also provides advice to global corporations on commercial agreements and day-to-day corporate governance.

She is a graduate of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Mansour Gavin’s president, Anthony Coyne, was quoted in The Plain Dealer regarding the much anticipated location for The Sherwin-Williams Co.’s new headquarters and what that means for future development and investment in the city.

Mr. Coyne chairs the Group Plan Commission and served on the Cleveland City Planning Commission for 25 years, most of that time as its chairman.

Read The Plain Dealer article here.

 

Mansour Gavin attorney and Cleveland Metroparks Commissioner Bruce Rinker was recently quoted in Crain’s Cleveland Business as two proposed bills target how the metroparks systems acquire private property to develop amenities for public space. Read entire article here.

Ed Patton will be providing an overview of International Contracts at the the City of Mentor’s International Trade Initiative 2020 Seminar Series International Contracts and the New Incoterms on Thursday, February 27.

This seminar will show how to use the new Incoterms and negotiate international contracts more effectively according to the U.N. Convention on the International Sale of Goods.

For additional information or to register, visit www.mentormeansbusiness.com.

By: Edward Patton

House Democrats and President Donald Trump struck an agreement to revise a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, delivering a win for the president on a top legislative priority on December 10, 2019. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the revised trade pact “a victory for America’s workers.”

Congress agreed to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), sometimes called NAFTA 2.0. The agreement updates the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 pact that governs more than $1.2 trillion worth of trade among the three nations, for the 21st century. The new USMCA will support mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America. The agreement is expected to be formally voted on before the end of the year.

The USMCA provides changes to Intellectual Property and Digital Trade protection. These changes would potentially liberalize financial services markets and facilitate a level playing field for U.S. financial institutions, investors and investments in financial institutions, and cross-border trade in financial services. Labor protection and new trade rules of origin will drive higher wages by requiring that 40-45 percent of cars and trucks be made by workers earning at least USD $16 per hour. The USMCA requires Mexico to change its laws to make it easier for workers to unionize.

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have agreed to stronger rules of origin that exceed those of both NAFTA 1.0 and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), including automobiles and automobile parts and other industrial products such as chemicals, steel-intensive products, glass, and optical fiber. This deal exceeds NAFTA 1.0 and the TPP by establishing procedures that streamline certification and verification of rules of origin and that promote strong enforcement. This includes new cooperation and enforcement provisions that help to prevent duty evasion before it happens. The new rules will help ensure that only producers using sufficient and significant North American parts and materials receive preferential tariff benefits. For example, in the automotive industry, there are big changes in the rules of origin. The goal of the new deal is to have more car and truck parts made in North America. Soon, to qualify for zero tariffs, a car or truck must have 75 percent of its components manufactured in Canada, Mexico or the United States, a substantial boost from the current 62.5 percent requirement.

Finally, unlike NAFTA, the USMCA has a sunset provision meaning the terms of the agreement expire, or “sunset” after 16 years. The deal is also subject to a review every six years, at which point the U.S., Mexico, and Canada can decide to extend the USMCA.

The White House has yet to release a final copy of the USMCA, so not all of the details are known. This deal was first announced in September 2018 but House Democrats have demanded several changes since then. The latest full version of the text, which was released publicly in May, does not include changes negotiated in recent days. The effective date of the agreement is not known.

Attorneys Ken Smith, Veronica Garofoli, and Tim Reid recently secured a defense ruling at federal jury trial in the case Hunt v. Sundquist, et al., Case No, 1:17-cv-01444 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio.

The Plaintiff, a county jail inmate, had alleged excessive force and a failure to intervene in the use of excessive force against the two defendant corrections officers. At the close of evidence, the Mansour Gavin team moved for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 as to their client, the corrections officer accused of not intervening in the alleged use of excessive force. After oral argument, the Court granted the motion thus dismissing all claims against the officer. The jury subsequently found in favor of the other defendant corrections officer,  finding he did not use excessive force against the Plaintiff despite having pled criminally guilty to assault from the same incident involving the Plaintiff.

Mansour Gavin’s John Monroe served as a panelist at the Legal Netlink Alliance’s Fall Meeting in Atlanta, GA where firm leaders discussed associate retention, succession planning and business development efforts. Read more.