By Patty Chen, Esq. Misclassifying employees and independent contractors can lead to steep penalties and consequences. Doing so has resulted in million-dollar settlements for some companies. As one example, on January 17, 2020, Power Design Inc. agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it misclassified 500 electrical workers as independent contractors instead of employees. There have been significant changes to how employees and independent contractors are …

In this article, we will focus on topics relating to the purchase price, including the use of digital currency as an alternative to fiat currency, the use of non-cash considerations, purchase price adjustments, and earnout mechanisms. Learn More Wide Blog

Encore Law corporate law partner, Ara Babaian, has been named a Super Lawyer for the seventh year in a row. Learn More Wide Blog

By Muhammed T. Hussain, Esq. As the world has learned to live with the COVID pandemic, so have the courts. But, just as with restaurants and salons, the courts have implemented numerous changes to deal with the pandemic. Even though there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel in 2021, it is likely that the COVID restrictions will stay in place through the end of …

by Ara Babaian, Esq. Until now, to be eligible to invest in most private securities offerings, an investor must meet the longstanding definition of “accredited investor” which was tied to an investor’s net worth or income level.  In changes adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on August 26, 2020, that definition now has been modernized to take into account an investor’s financial sophistication.  This is an exciting …

By Patty Chen, Esq. In this age of social media and the current climate in America, people are engaging more and more in political discourse in the workplace and outside of it. There has been increasing pressure for employer to fire, or otherwise take some negative action against, an employee for comments the employee made that were caught on social media. However, the Constitution, in particular its First Amendment, protects …

By Ara Babaian, Esq. and Durdana Karim, Esq. The manufacturing and distribution of PPE is a growing industry allowing the supply of essential medical and non-medical equipment for a range of businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.  PPE generally refers to medical-grade and non-medical grade equipment that is designed to protect individuals against injury or help prevent exposure to illness or infections.  PPE includes non-cloth masks, respirators, surgical masks, face shields, …

By Ara Babaian, Esq. and Durdana Karim, Esq. As many of you know, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) nearly three months ago, assisting many companies in tiding the coronavirus pandemic.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers the PPP, which provides a federally guaranteed loan to a small business (a business with 500 or fewer employees) for the purposes …

Encore Law partner Ara Babaian gave a Zoom talk about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) enacted by Congress and administered by the Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act). Co-sponsored by the Armenian American Medical Society and the Armenian Bar Association, this presentation is open to all, and free CLE, CME and CDE is available for attorneys, doctors and dentists.  The presentation is available below, and …

By Ara Babaian, Esq. Citing the crisis raised by COVID-19, on May 5, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) eased some of the requirements of Regulation Crowdfunding (CF), which allows small issuers to raise investment funds of up to $1.07 million as further described below.  The changes relate to the timing of when the offering can happen and when financial statements are required to be included in the issuer’s offering …