The wildly infamous Payment Protection Program (“PPP”) officially opened on April 3rd but ran out of money less than two weeks later on April 16th. Its nature as a forgivable loan, or at worst one with 1% interest, made it a popular request for donors, but less so to the banks themselves. As such, banks prioritized their current customers, yet even so, the fund quickly ran out before many small businesses were able to apply. The PPP has caused quite the media storm, so much so that some companies are giving back their PPP loans to offset their bad press (i.e. Shake Shack returned their $10 million loan in lieu of bad press). As expected, several banks are now being sued and accused of prioritizing their big customers over smaller businesses. The accuracy of these allegations is unknown; however, banks such as Chase state that “[e]ighty percent of PPP loans processed through Chase went to businesses with less than $5 million in revenue. About half went to small businesses with less than $100,000[.]”
Regardless, we know a lot of people missed out on applying. In response, Congress is looking to approve an additional $450 billion in funding to the PPP programs (as well as for COVID-19 testing). The agreement is expected to be reached later on Monday, April 20th, and may be submitted as early as Wednesday the 22nd for full Congressional approval. As such, those who missed out on the PPP loans may get another opportunity to apply.
More info: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/20/small-businesses-sue-chase-bank-over-handling-stimulus/5163654002/ AND https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/coronavirus-covid-trump-congress-democrats-second-stimulus-bill-small-business-loans-testing-20200419.html
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California has required employers to “indemnify” employees for “necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer” in substantially the same terms since 1937 under Labor Code § 2802.
