What options do business owners have due to Coronavirus? Trembly Law on CBS4 Miami

What options do business owners have due to coronavirus? Trembly Law on CBS4 Miami

00:00
April for now. Well, it’s an understatement to say most employees and the companies they work for large and small are on edge.

00:06
Tonight some business owners are trying anyway possible to make it through this unprecedented situation. CBS fours David Santos live for us in Doral with details David.

00:18
Yeah, there are two schools of thought here either this virus and this quarantine epidemic that’s happening here is going to shut your business down or it’s going to make you stronger. Regardless of whether you’re a big company like carnival or a three person small business operation. That decision is not easy to deal with.

00:38
My staffing option is we will end up laying off the the employees that we have

00:44
Jeff Cohn that has had a challenging few weeks the Coronavirus has slashed his business by two thirds. It’s just a matter of time as he sees it before local or state government shuts his doors as part of the quarantine.

00:56
We are cashflow business so my business survives on my ability to generate revenue.

01:00
Content is not alone. corporate attorney Brett tremble his phone has been ringing all day with companies trying to figure out how to close their doors temporarily or for good.

01:09
We’ve had quite a few clients in the travel and hospitality industries go from profitable to within a matter of three days being essentially revenue is at zero and they’ve had to shut their door triple

01:22
is advising companies to look into furloughs instead of layoffs. It means no pay for employees. But when the dust settles, they still have a job.

01:30
A lot of times employees are able to keep benefits. And sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they can even apply and qualify for unemployment. But each particular situation is different.

01:40
The government is getting involved as well. The House passed a bill over the weekend that could have dramatic effects on employees. It makes Coronavirus, test free helps feed the poor sets up sick and family leave time for employees. Employees may see up to 12 weeks of paid leave if they or someone in their household has the virus. All that gets paid by employers up front. But the government will reimburse companies with tax credits. Mark Weinstein is the Director of Human Resources Program at Florida International University. He sees the government’s plan as innovative and not done yet. You’ll likely see waves of programs over the next year,

02:15
we only have so many people policy solutions, and and the we haven’t careful on how we roll them out and you don’t want to, you know, send all our money and all our efforts, you know, and still find later that we have unmet needs.

02:31
Conduit is already looking at federally backed small business loans. He’s considering if he’s going to be closed, why not pursue a growth opportunity to expand his business

02:39
to if I don’t make a bold move and expand in this time? It’s how do I make it where I can come out of it and still be strong? So it’s there’s no question we’re gonna come out of

02:49
it. We’re advising the best thing you can do is manage your cash flow. There’s a few local travel industries that are affected almost overnight, but for the rest of us, it’s going to be a slower realized effect. And we don’t know if it’s going to last weeks or months.

03:06
And looking at this bill is now stalled in the Senate one hopes that they resolve this soon. Florida’s governor also did make an announcement today that the state will start offering bridge loans to small businesses. These are typically up to $50,000 or about a year term at 0% interest. Typically they are used to cover cash problems where you’re having cashflow issues, however, you usually see this after a hurricane sort of a response to a natural disaster. In the route David says CBS four news tonight. David thank you and if you have questions