COVID-19 Update July 8, 2020

The Supreme Court continues its streak of controversial decisions this week. We had our NAPEO Federal Affairs Committee call this afternoon and heard some interesting gossip floating through with Congress back in session and focusing on new pandemic legislation. That said, the following insights I am able to share have simply been discussed – nothing has been put to action yet.

In Mitch McConnell’s speech to the Senate, he laid out a plan with a baseline notion to limit liability from contracting COVID-19 for businesses and healthcare workers unless proven negligent in their responsibility to protect employees and patrons. Additionally, senators Rubio and Collins proposed a modified second round of PPP loans available for small businesses. Congress has made it clear that any consequent actions should be more concentrated on supporting more specifically troubled small businesses, such as those with less than 300 employees and a revenue loss of 50% or more as well as industry-specific businesses like manufacturing or hospitality at a loss of 10% or more. Alternatively, another proposal on the Hill would be to issue $50 billion toward another round of loans and allow each state to create their own criteria.

The current PPP program’s deadline to apply has been moved to August 8^th because it still has $139 billion left, and any funds not issued in this program toward the second round. Many banks are skeptical about the next round, expressing that they are at capacity and have requested more fixed or unchanging regulations before the loans are processed for a less burdensome workload.

Lastly, the White House has been promoting a payroll tax holiday to give businesses and employees a break; however, Congress has opposed because of the level of complications this would cause. Being that there are tax breaks already in the Cares Act along with the FFCRA, the tax processing for this would be a nightmare to track.

AGAIN, please keep in mind that none of this is even in the beginning phases of an actual bill to vote on, but I thought you would like to hear what they are talking about in DC.

Below, available for download is Delta’s flyer on our new telemedicine offering for our clients that has been extremely successful on the first wave of introduction for their households. We are also planning on adding mental health coverage as well as options for at-home COVID-19 testing. These are part of our continued attempts to stay ahead of the curve and make sure your employees have access to the resources they need to get back to work.

Friendly reminder to register here for the next bi-weekly Delta webinar tomorrow afternoon!

Today’s Downloads:

1. Do Your Employees Know Why You Believe in Racial Equity? – Great Article on how to talk to your respective teams about inclusion and equity.
2. U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Religious Employers and Trump Administration in Two Important Decisions – Today, the Supreme Court decided two cases – both by a 7 to 2 vote – involving the impact of religion in employment.
3. Team Angst and Brokering Peace in the COVID-19 Era – People are tired and anxious due to COVID-19, and it’s inevitable that those frustrations and fears will make their way into the workplace.
4. Doctegrity Benefit – This is just the beginning of our plans to expand benefits to help our stakeholders get through this pandemic world we live in.