The Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Lawyer's Ethical Responsibilities in a Rapidly Changing Legislative, Administrative, and Judicial Environment

Expired

Program Number

30270

Program Date

2020-11-12

CLE Credits

Congress passed the FFCRA early in the COVID-19 pandemic and extremely quickly. Two components of the FFCRA The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Family Medical Leave Expansion Act impacted most employers in the United States, providing generous new benefits funded by the federal government and operated through public and private employers. Those two laws interacted with a wide variety of pre-existing state and some federal laws, as well as employer policies and subsequent statutory developments in the CARES Act. The USDOL came out first with guidance, then with emergency regulations, that interpreted the FFCRA laws. Some of these regulations were challenged in court, and in August a court struck several of them down. USDOL then revised and reissued the regulations to address some of the concerns raised by the Court. Lawyers practicing in this area faced a wide variety of challenges, not the least of which was assessing their ethical obligations in such a rapidly changing landscape. This presents a useful case study in the interplay between the legislative, administrative, and judicial functions playing out in real time, and the challenges faced by attorneys trying to keep up with the rapidly changing and often confusing legal requirements. In this sense, it is a fast-motion case study of the various obligations attorneys face when representing clients in real time. In addition to the substantive issues related to the FFCRA programs, we will discuss the Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rules 1.1 (competence) 1.2 (Scope of Representation), 1.3 (Diligence) 1.4 (Communications), and the rules surrounding multi-jurisdictional practice and the unauthorized practice of law.