The COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act (COVID-19 Act) was passed last year to protect the public from deceptive marketing related to the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID–19, or any government benefit related to COVID-19, by making such practices illegal under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). The COVID-19 Act also authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to seek civil monetary penalties for first-time violations of the COVID-19 Act, a remedy not normally available under the FTC Act.

On March 29, 2021, a new California law took effect mandating COVID-related supplemental paid sick leave for employers with more than 25 employees. Specifically, Senate Bill (SB) 95 creates new Labor Code Section 248.2, which requires employers to provide supplemental paid sick leave for certain absences related to COVID-19, in addition to other paid time off benefits to which they are already entitled. This law (referred to below as the “2021 SPSL law”) applies retroactively to January 1, 2021 and is effective through September 30, 2021.

On March 31, newly appointed Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Peter Sung Ohr, issued a memorandum to all Regional Directors advising that his office plans to robustly enforce workers’ rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA), including the right to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid or protection.

On March 4, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law House Bill No. 6515, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnic hairstyles historically associated with race. Known as the CROWN Act (which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), the law amends Connecticut’s anti-discrimination law to define race as “inclusive of ethic traits historically associated with race, including but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.” Under the new law, "protective hairstyles" include "wigs, headwraps and hairstyles, such as individual braids, cornrows, locs, twists, Bantu knots, afros and afro puffs." 

F-1 Students Seeking Optional Practical Training Employment Authorization Document Can Now File Form I-765 Online

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, some businesses are still incurring losses due to COVID-related closures and other restrictions. As we shared last April, the possibility of mitigating those losses by relying on a force majeure provision depends on a variety of different factors, including which state law governs your contract, the exact wording of the force majeure clause contained within it, and other facts and circumstances, such as the subject matter of the agreement and/or the foreseeability of the pandemic at the time you entered into the contract.

A common or “boilerplate” provision in commercial contracts is the renewal clause. Typically included in the Term section, this clause dictates if and how the agreement will renew after the initial term ends. When entering an agreement, your position on the renewal provision will likely depend on your role in the relationship (e.g., as either buyer or seller of products/services).

In some agreements, renewal is automatic if neither party opts out in writing. Although automatic renewal terms may be convenient, particularly when your business depends on the seller’s product or license, they may also be costly unless there is a termination for convenience right with a short notice period.

Since the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), U.S. companies have invested a great deal of time and money in their compliance efforts; yet for many, their work is far from complete. For U.S. data importers, the July 2020 invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield has left former “self-certified Shield” companies forced to find a new mechanism by which to lawfully transfer EU data into the U.S. Many of these companies will likely adopt the new set of standard contractual clauses (SCCs), once they are finalized by the European Commission.