PPP Loan Forgiveness NEW Extended Rehire Guidelines Signed Into Law – What Does This Mean?

PPP Loan Forgiveness Has Been Given! 

Small businesses can officially take a sigh of relief as the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act was unanimously approved by the Senate and officially signed by President Trump. 

While the new forgiveness guidelines have not yet been released, businesses can finally start to take a second look at how they will allocate their funds. Although the new law eases a lot of the pain around getting up and running, there are still major unanswered questions as new issues arise with hiring back employees. 

Employers are complaining that the federal $600 unemployment benefit was in direct conflict with the purpose of PPP. The new law now makes it so the employer is not penalized if the employee doesn’t return to work. The new changes helping with this concern are:

1. The rehire date is extended to December 31, 2020 
2. Can show an inability to rehire individuals who were employees of the eligible recipient on February 15, 2020
3. Can show an inability to hire similarly qualified employees for unfilled positions on or before December 31, 2020
4. Is able to document an inability to return to the same level of business activity as such business was operating at before February 15, 2020, due to compliance with requirements related to COVID-19.

It’s still unclear as to what qualifies as the “documentation to show the inability to return to the same business activity” or standard of “inability to rehire individuals” but as the new guidelines are released we hope it will break down what those standards are. 

We will release all the updated information this week as it becomes public, so make sure you check back for updates!