Category: News & Events
Significant Proposed Changes to Minnesota Veterans Homes Rules
November 17, 2021 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.
By: Cathryn Reher While there has been a great deal of publicity about the ground-breaking ceremonies around the state for additional Minnesota Veterans Homes, far less publicized are the 88 pages of proposed changes to the Minnesota Rules. These proposed changes will impact both veterans and their spouses whether they currently reside, or have future plans to reside, at one of these facilities. The current rules can be viewed at: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/1f367ca5/5mJ1ZMz-4kSkcAQfk_IInA?u=https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/9050. You will want to check out the proposed rule changes at: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/71a018ff/xz80iGxVIUKb4jigTsKN0w?u=https://mn.gov/mdva/assets/2021-10-15-rd4384_tcm1066-502928.pdf. From an initial review of the proposed rule changes, many are adverse or more restrictive than under the current rules. If you read the MDVA description of the proposed rule changes, you would have no idea what changes are afoot. For instance, one of the proposed changes will impact a current and future facility resident’s holding a real property interest in the form of a life estate. The change adopts a valuation method for a life estate which could result in as much as a twenty to thirty percent increase in the equity value allocated to a Veterans Home resident. If the life estate were sold, the resident’s maintenance charge would increase until the full value of the interest, along with other available assets, was reduced below $3,000. For any persons holding…
Read MoreBusiness Owners: Think Twice Before Gifting Stock to Employees
September 24, 2021 | Carole Clark Isakson
I receive regular calls from small business owners that want to show appreciation to their hardworking employees by gifting shares in the company. Sometimes, the goal is to incentivize an employee to work harder and in other cases, the employer hopes to keep the employee long-term and feels the gift will help with this. I generally dissuade these owners from share transfers and suggest other ways to bonus employees based on profits. Why? Because an owner of shares, no matter how small, has rights in the company that can cause issues for the well-meaning employer. Minority shareholders in Minnesota have a variety of rights. For instance, minority shareholders in privately held corporations have the right to request and examine the share register, the records of all shareholders, and board proceedings over the past three years. This includes all articles, amendments, bylaws currently in effect, certain financial statements, reports made to shareholders within the last three years, names and business addresses of all directors and principal officers, voting trust agreements, shareholder control agreements, and other types of agreements. While providing these documents may not be difficult, many employers would rather not share this information. When an employee comes to their employer, and owns a share in the company, this information must be provided. In…
Read MoreManaging Data Privacy in the Post-Pandemic Era
September 16, 2021 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.
COVID-19 has changed the way we live, work, shop, and socialize on a global scale. In the early weeks of the pandemic, people transformed their homes into virtual offices, workspaces, and classrooms among concerns for the health and safety of everyone. As a result, this “new normal” started to infringe upon our personal privacy as new tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other videoconferencing platforms became standard operating procedure. However, the pandemic did not slow down technological advancement or the pace of regulation affecting data privacy and security. Read our blog as we discuss managing data privacy as we continue to manage this pandemic. What is, or will be, our new normal? Whatever it is, data privacy concerns will remain. Changes to the Regulatory Landscape In January 2020, the state of California implemented legislation geared towards greater protection of consumer data. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ushered in changes to the way businesses collect, process, and distribute private information as consumer demand for greater privacy protections increased. The affect of the new legislation was widespread, prompting many companies like Microsoft and Uber to alter their business practices to comply with the new law. In fact, the CCPA has served as a blueprint for other states to draft and adopt their own laws;…
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