In the interest of keeping everyone updated about the coronavirus and its impact on business and the ARM industry, I will be providing regular updates to readers of AccountsRecovery.net. Read on for today’s updates.
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NEW YORK DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY, BAN IMPOSED ON CERTAIN TYPES OF CALLS
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has declared a state of emergency for the Empire State, which imposes bans on certain types of calls to individuals living in New York. Under the state of emergency, unsolicited telemarketing calls are prohibited to residents of New York.
While people may skip this paragraph because they do not think they make those types of calls, it is important to note that the applicable law in New York does not define what an “unsolicited telemarketing” calls is. Also, the law is unclear about whether the law applies to text messages.
The state of emergency in New York is currently set to remain effect until Sept. 20.
CONNECTICUT ALLOWS LICENSED COMPANIES TO HAVE EMPLOYEES WORK FROM HOME
From ACA International comes this update that licensed consumer credit companies in Connecticut are now allowed to have employees work from home. Normally, employees of licensed companies are required to work in licensed branch offices.
To allow companies to have their employees work from home, the Connecticut Department of Banking has issued a No Action letter “concerning the requirement that any Connecticut licensable activity by a Consumer Credit Licensee be conducted from a licensed branch location, effective immediately through April 30,” so long as a number of criteria are met. Individuals must be working from home due to a reason related to the coronavirus and inform their employer in writing.
CFPB EMPLOYEES MAY START WORKING FROM HOME
From a published report about how the federal government is preparing its response to the coronavirus outbreak: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told employees to be prepared to start working from home at all times using government-issued laptop computers.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, is having half of its employees work from home today to test the agency’s virtual capabilities. The OCC has also suspended all non-essential domestic travel.
