Time to re-open? Business owners, houses of worship, and other nonprofit leaders are waking up daily to new announcements about gradual re-openings in this next coronavirus phase of trial-and-error efforts. Given significant concerns to be balanced as well as evolving medical implications of COVID-19, how should employers resume in-person work practices?
Good news! The Small Business Administration released updated guidance today clarifying "economic uncertainty" certifications made by PPP borrowers. Under Q&A #46 the requisite good-faith certification of economic uncertainty will be conclusively presumed for loans of less than $2 million. As set forth in the SBA’s answer, this “safe harbor” allowance takes an essentially prudential and easily applicable approach.
In Illinois, April 30, 2020 marks Day 40 of Governor Pritzker’s stay-home order, confining all residents and shutting down all operations, except for “essential activities.” Is the Order legal? Do such government mandates violate First Amendment freedoms, as some states courts have ruled? How can nonprofit leaders plan well, safely, and legally for moving through and beyond COVID-19?