GovCon Alert: Failure to Comply with DFARS 252.204-7012 (or Any Material Clause in Your Contracts) Could be Considered False Claims Act Fraud, Exposing You to Treble (3x) Damages By Joe Kirkwood In recent years, a theory of liability under the False Claims Act (FCA) has developed in the courts that greatly raises the risk profile of FAR and DFARS noncompliance. Where normally failure to comply w...

By Mahmood Bakkash and Joe Kirkwood On Friday, August 23, 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed a new rule regarding its small business programs. It’s a massive update with some very important changes, so we have broken it down into the key features below. Like any proposed rule, these items may not go into effect as proposed or may never go into effect, but we will provide an ...

By: Jocelyn McKenzie and Joe Kirkwood The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has blocked FTC’s nationwide ban on non-compete clauses, just two weeks before it was set to take effect on September 4, 2024. If you haven’t read our last article on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Final Rule on non-competition agreements issued on April 23, 2024, the Rule would have explicitl...

You may have heard rumblings that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned non-compete clauses nationwide. We’re here to give you the details of the ban and the latest developments as of the date of this article. The FTC recently issued a Final Rule which, unless invalidated in court, will have dramatic and lasting effects on the way employers protect their business in their employment and i...

Summary: The United States Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule on January 9, 2024 that clarifies the distinction between an “employee” and an “independent contractor” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This distinction is important to our clients because it determines whether a given worker is covered under the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime pay, and recordkeeping obligations...

A final rule issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which has implications and changes regulations across the SBA’s various government contracting programs, became effective on May 30, 2023. These changes apply to all solicitations issued on or after that date. Below is a summary of the changes, organized by category: 8(a) Program Changes Changes Related to: Applying to and Exit...

Effective July 1, 2015 Virginia Code § 40.1-28.7:5 prohibits employers from requiring that its current or prospective employees produce usernames or passwords granting access to the employee’s personal social media accounts. The new statute defines a “social media account” as “a personal account with an electronic medium or service where users may create, share, or view user-generated content, in...

On July 15, 2020, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Safety and Health Codes Board adopted an Emergency Temporary Standard on Infectious Disease Prevention: SARS-CoV-2 That Causes COVID-19 (§16 VAC 25‐220) (“Standard”) to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Virginia workplaces. The Standard went into effect on July 27, 2020 and is set to expire within six (6) months of the effect...

When signing a commercial lease one of the most difficult decisions is whether an arbitration clause is good for your company. The commercial leasing community is split on whether to keep arbitration clauses in leases or to negotiate them out. Attorneys tend to side with removing arbitration clauses while business persons like to include them in their leases. A commercial lease should be reviewed...

The firm was recently on the winning end of a case in the Loudoun Circuit Court, through the effective application of the new Virginia Rules of Evidence which were adopted by the Virginia General Assembly on July 1, 2012. The New Rules of Evidence The new Rules represent a “sea change” in Virginia trial practice, according to many, but will bring the Commonwealth in line with 48 other states tha...

The I-9 rules require employers do the following: Ensure all new hires complete the form prior to the beginning of their employment. Review documents presented by the new hire as such documents pertain to the new hire’s identity AND eligibility to work legally in the United States. Properly complete Section 2 of Form I-9. Retain Form I-9 for 3 years after the date employment begins or 1 year...

The past 5 years has seen a large shift from law firms’ most basic practice: hourly billing.  Big and small firms alike are increasingly offering alternative fee arrangements, such as flat-fee billing, due in part in the market’s response to ever-increasing billable-hour rates, and in part to savvy companies demanding more for their legal dollars.  The Wall Street Journal recently reported that b...

As many small businesses grow so does their need for more complex and scalable IT resources. While those needs vary from adding more storage or servers to creating larger networks and adding information services, the common issue is that of managing your needs and expenditures while maintaining security and reliability. That goal is typically a difficult balancing act that requires technical knowl...

The following questions often arise as companies consider whether and how to implement a corporate drug and alcohol test policy: How should my company handle random testing? Each company should design its random testing to suit its needs; i.e. balance costs and work interruption against the need to monitor and enforce the policy.  The company must decide how often it will test, and how it will ...

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) requires an organization requesting a consumer report to notify the target of the organization’s intent to obtain the report.  Some internal auditors have expressed concern that compliance with the FCRA requirements gives targeted individuals the opportunity to alter or destroy evidence. The FCRA defines “consumer report” to include background investigations...

Many companies discover they are large enough to need consistent legal advice, but may not yet require a full-time general counsel. NOVA Business Law Group’s affiliate entity, GarbiaPlocki, LLP, provides Outside General Counsel services to clients seeking long-term strategic planning and counsel designed to help companies grow and compete in a rigorous market. We structure our program around your ...

Employers who use criminal background checks as part of their hiring practice are likely required to comply with the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) because those employers obtain “consumer reports” from a “consumer reporting agency” (as those terms are defined under the FCRA).  See 15 U.S.C. §§1681 et. seq.   Many employers purchase criminal background checks from national providers, o...

As recently reported in Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Mar. 5, 2014) the Alexandria U.S. District Court issued a decision last month in which the Court approved service of process service of process on an individual in a foreign country in a lawsuit via Facebook, LinkedIn and email.  Case Background In WhosHere Inc. v. Orun (VLW 014-3-103; No. 1:13-cv-526-AJT-TRJ, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22084 (E.D. Va....

If you own and operate a successful business and are considering expansion, you may have thought about franchising your business or otherwise licensing your company’s name, processes, and products. If you decide to go down one of these paths, there are strict federal and state laws that will govern your decision making. Many smaller businesses consider proceeding with a licensing or “franchise-l...

In the aftermath of the decision issued in July by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric., the Small Business Administration (SBA) has halted all pending 8(a) applications, and has further advised existing 8(a) companies that if they previously relied on the rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage, they must now submit soc...