Insights

Earlier this month, the IRS provided guidance for employers claiming the employee retention tax credit for 2020.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA, 2021) was signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021 to address the continuing economic impact on employers and employees the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posed. The ARPA includes numerous tax provisions that may impact taxpayers in 2020 and later. The legislation extends and expands provisions found in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA, 2021) that are discussed in our previous client alerts, which can be found by visiting our Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources page.

In this fifth installment of our Construction Interview Series, Rich Reizen, chair of Gould & Ratner’s Construction Practice, talks with Tom Bassett-Dilley, Owner of TBDArchitects, about green building and energy efficient design methodologies, including the state of the architectural industry and design focused on sustainability and net zero energy consumption. TBDArchitects is one of Chicago’s leading […]

On January 21, 2021, President Biden issued an “Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety.” The Order, issued on the first full day of the new Biden Administration, was one of many directly addressing COVID-19. The Order stated that the federal government must take “swift action to reduce the risk that workers may contact COVID-19 in the workplace” and gave the Assistant Secretary of Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), two weeks to provide revised guidance to employers on workplace safety.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated the section of its Compliance Manual on religious discrimination in the workplace.  The updated section on religious discrimination was published in January 2021 after a short review period and a 3-2 vote along party lines by the commissioners (with Republicans in favor of the proposal, and Democrats in opposition).   Published just days before President Biden took office and named one of the Democratic members as chair of the agency, it remains to be seen if the EEOC will modify this or other sections of the Compliance Manual.

“Forecasting is very difficult, especially when it involves the future.” – Yogi Berra