News (All) - Page 77 of 164 - Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP

Campolo Bridges Nonprofit and Business Community with Candid Discussion about Partnerships

Posted: January 29th, 2019

CMM Managing Partner Joe Campolo and Cerini & Associates Managing Partner Ken Cerini brought the business and nonprofit communities together on January 29 with a candid discussion about creating win-win partnerships. Over 50 business and nonprofit leaders made new connections and came away with a fresh perspective from the event, “A Conversation About Philanthropy and Business,” held in CMM’s state-of-the-art training room in Ronkonkoma.

Campolo spoke of the need to create long-term partnerships, emphasizing that today’s employers and their teams need to be able to visualize and experience the impact of their charitable giving, not just write a check. Businesses need to remain profitable, Campolo explained, and engaging with nonprofits in a way that brings in business does not dilute their charity; rather, it increases engagement and thus the likelihood of the partnership continuing long after the next golf outing or gala is over. “There needs to be something strategic happening,” Campolo said. “How are we investing time between now and the next event?”

The intimate nature of the event helped foster candid discussion and the opportunity for guests to learn from one another. Nonprofit leaders emphasized that businesses often fail to factor in the administrative costs a nonprofit relies on to function, and discussed how they have had to adapt to an increased number of gifts restricted to specific events or projects, creating a cash flow crunch in other areas.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees pointing out the actionable strategies they learned and planned to implement. “This morning’s discussion on philanthropy and business was easily the best event I have attended,” said Kevin O’Connell, owner of Hampton Pest Management. “Thank you for your care and concern for the vulnerable residents of Long Island,” said Jennifer Capezza, Director of Development at L.I. Against Domestic Violence. “There should be more folks out there like you.”

CMM’s goal is to serve as a resource for the Long Island community with forward-thinking events like this one. Sign up for our newsletters to receive updates in your inbox!

CMM Commits $450,000 to Support Cultural Arts and Scholarships at Stony Brook University

Posted: January 24th, 2019

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, a premier law firm with offices in Westbury, Ronkonkoma, and Bridgehampton, has made a generous ten-year gift commitment in the amount of $450,000 to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University. This gift was made because of the leadership and generosity of CMM Managing Partner Joe Campolo, a Stony Brook University alumnus, Alumni Association Past President, and valued member of the Staller Center Advisory Board. This new pledge solidifies the firm’s dedication to the arts and the University as a whole.

The firm’s gift will continue their support as an annual Major Corporate Supporter of the Staller Center for the Arts Live Season and Stony Brook Film Festival, toward a new modern sound system for both the main stage theater and recital hall to enhance live performances at the Staller Center, for the Alumni Association Past President’s Scholarship, and for the Joseph N. Campolo Award for Legal Studies. The firm’s support of the Staller Center under the leadership of Joe Campolo is in addition to the firm’s longtime significant support of Stony Brook Athletics, spearheaded by CMM Senior Partner Scott Middleton, for whom the Middleton Family Student Athletic Alumni Award is named.

Philanthropy is a critical component of CMM’s DNA. In 2018, the firm launched CMM Cares, a volunteer initiative to benefit the community with donations of time, dollars, and support. As a Long Island business leader, Chairman of the HIA-LI Board of Directors, and Staller Advisory Board member, Joe Campolo also serves on the Board of Directors of the Long Island High Technology Incubator, also based at the University. Scott Middleton is a member of the SBU Intercollegiate Athletic Board and Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Task Force among many other prominent board associations.

Outside of NYS allocated funding, nearly 70% of support for Staller Center for the Arts comes directly from private donations through the generosity of corporations, individuals, and foundations. Funds raised directly impact the caliber of performers the Staller Center brings in, keep ticket prices affordable, and benefit critical arts and education outreach to the Long Island community. The new sound system that CMM funded for the Staller Center was a much-needed upgrade to both theaters and creates a new sleek look and dynamic sound performance. The Staller Center for the Arts is extremely thankful to Joe Campolo and his CMM colleagues for their unwavering dedication to helping keep the arts thriving.

March 27 – CMM East End Business Breakfast: Leading Your Business the Marine Corps Way

Posted: January 18th, 2019

Event Date: March 27th, 2019

Presented by Joe Campolo

The United States Marine Corps is built on a tradition of discipline, dedication, and accomplishing its mission, no matter how difficult. The superior leadership skills and culture of selflessness required to succeed as a Marine offer invaluable lessons for any business organization.

Join Joe Campolo, Managing Partner at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick and proud Marine Corps veteran, for a personal look at how the leadership culture of the Marine Corps has helped him as a leader and can empower other business owners, executives, and their employees to perform at the highest possible level. At this seminar, you’ll learn:

What “basic training” should look like at your organization
How and why you should make every job at your company the most important job
How to encourage new ideas by making it okay to fail
How being a hands-off manager encourages professional development – yours and theirs
Strategies to replace rules with philosophy
Ways to lead by example
How to motivate your team

Inside every Marine is an elite fighting spirit. Develop your own inner Marine – and empower your employees to discover theirs – to make 2019 the most productive and successful year for your business.

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

8:30 AM: Registration, networking and breakfast

9:00 – 10:00 AM: Presentation

Location: Chancellors Hall at Stony Brook Southampton Campus

Click here to register.

Jointly hosted with the Stony Brook University Alumni Association.

HIA-LI: Partnering with Elected Officials

Posted: January 18th, 2019

HIA-LI Board Chairman Joe Campolo delivered these remarks at HIA-LI’s Annual Meeting & Legislative Breakfast on January 18 2019.

I’d like to welcome everyone to our Annual Meeting and Legislative Breakfast. Thank you for being here this morning. As Chairman of the HIA-LI Board of Directors and a Long Island business owner, I’m honored to join you as the moderator for this event as we embark on a new year for Long Island business and for the continued prosperity of our region.

As steward of the Hauppauge Industrial Park, the second largest in the nation behind only Silicon Valley, HIA-LI has spent the last several years working tirelessly to spread the word about this incredible economic engine. And we have indeed made an enormous impact. One of my proudest accomplishments as Board Chairman is our success in making these numbers and these facts so well known; so much so that the HIP’s identity as a regional economic powerhouse is no longer a secret, but rather part of the fabric and story of Long Island.

Long Island is an amazing place, and due to the ingenuity and hard work of public/private partnerships, we are seeing enormous investments in our region resulting in the revitalization of many of Long Island’s unique downtowns, as well as significant improvement in transportation with the addition of the third track, a renewed commitment to McArthur Airport, and continued improvements in sewer infrastructure and water quality. These investments will lead to, and require, private sector jobs, and the key objective of the HIA is to foster that growth, and in particular the growth of competitive tradeable industries here on Long Island. These include things like aerospace, construction, biopharma, distribution and e-commerce, food processing, business services, education and research, and IT. The Park already has a higher proportion of these businesses than anywhere else on Long Island, which is important as these sectors represent the highest ratio of new jobs and new dollars to our region. Our mission is to accelerate this growth by providing the necessary facilities, amenities, talent pool, and knowledge infrastructure to the Park– as well as by marketing and branding the Park as the region’s premier hub for growing businesses.

We’ve made significant progress, but we need to be relentless about doing better. This country was built on a capitalist model because our founding fathers understood that innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit would always trump government gridlock. We are fortunate to have elected officials who get it, and continue to express a renewed commitment to investing in the Park. We thank them and assure them that, in return, we at the HIA-LI will always tirelessly fight for Long Island and its business community.

Thank you.

CMM Successfully Navigates Complex “Business Divorce” of Family-Owned Real Estate Firm

Posted: January 7th, 2019

When business partners can no longer work together, sometimes the best option for all parties to keep moving forward is a “business divorce.” CMM recently earned praise from a client for the firm’s successful navigation of both the legal and emotional issues that arose when the partners of a closely-held family business parted ways.

CMM represented the majority shareholder of a family-owned real estate company that owns and leases over 600,000 square feet of commercial and industrial properties throughout Long Island. Contemporaneous out-of-state divorce proceedings and estate planning issues for the high net worth family complicated the business breakup, but CMM remained focused on maximizing our client’s investment of time and money in the family business. The creative lawyering and business acumen of CMM attorneys Donald Rassiger and Vincent Costa successfully avoided litigation (a tremendous cost savings) and resulted in a positive outcome for our client, who shared after closing, “I want to thank you for your efforts on behalf of my family. It was a great team effort.”

CMM has extensive experience handling stock/equity purchases and sales when one or more partners buy out the other(s). The firm is adept at untangling owners’ interests from corporations, LLCs, and partnerships in crisis. Learn more about how we devise personally tailored solutions to help clients overcome challenging situations and achieve their business goals here.

Insurance Coverage for Electronic Data Loss

Posted: January 3rd, 2019

By Christine Malafi

Almost daily, the headlines report new cybersecurity attacks, each more brazen and far-reaching than the last. Businesses may think their general commercial liability policy will cover their losses in the event of a cybersecurity attack, but often learn the hard way that insurance companies frequently deny coverage for these losses. Electronic data is not considered to be “tangible property” by most traditional policy terms, and because data breaches don’t typically involve loss or damage to physical property, general liability policies often do not cover the resulting expenses and damages. Whether your business is protected depends on the specific language of your policy and the circumstances of the loss. Here’s a look at how that played out in two recent examples – and some guidance on how to protect your company.

In one recent case, an employee received a fake email from the address of the company’s president, who had been hacked.[1] The employee believed the company president was directing him to make a transfer of money. Because the employee had essentially been tricked into causing the loss, in this instance the insurance company was obligated to pay on the claim because the hacking was a form of unauthorized use covered by the insurer.[2]

A restaurant that suffered a data breach under different circumstances, however, was not as lucky. In that case, cyber criminals hacked into a fast food restaurant’s network, then obtained and fraudulently charged the credit cards of several customers.[3] A credit card company forced to reimburse its customers for the fraudulent charges filed suit against the restaurant for failure to keep the information safe. The restaurant sought coverage from its insurance company, but its insurer denied coverage, asserting that no coverage existed for third-party claims arising out of the loss of electronic data.[4] Ultimately, the Court agreed with the insurer, finding that the policy language clearly provided coverage only in the event of property damage.[5] “Property damage” was defined in the policy as “[p]hysical injury to tangible property… or … [l]oss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured.”[6] The policy went further and stated that electronic data was not considered tangible for the purposes of insurance coverage.[7] Therefore, the restaurant had no insurance coverage for the loss.[8]

If it seems that your coverage depends on your specific policy terms and the right set of circumstances, you’re right. In today’s data-driven world, many insurance companies offer policies that cover electronic data claims, but exclusions from coverage and definitions can severely limit coverage. Some questions to consider:

What minimum cybersecurity measures must your company implement for the policy to take effect?
What types of cyber events trigger coverage and when does coverage commence?
What aspects of your company’s technology infrastructure are covered?
Against what type of legal actions is your company insured, and how much control will your company have to respond to those actions?
Does the perpetrator or motivation of the cyberattack matter?

(More information on these questions here.)
Please call us to review your policy language and help you decide if the policy offers the protection you need.

[1] See Medidata Sols., Inc., 268 F. Supp. 3d 471, 476 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), aff’d, (2d Cir. 2018).
[2] Id.
[3] See RSVT Holdings, LLC v. Main Street America Assur. Co., 136 A.D.3d 1196 (3d Dep’t 2016).
[4] Id.
[5] Id. at 1198.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.

January Newsletter: New Partners, Laws Affecting Employers in 2019 & More

Posted: January 3rd, 2019

2019 Changes to Minimum Wage and Overtime Exempt Salary Threshold

Posted: December 31st, 2018

Another year has come and gone. As we usher in 2019, business owners should know that New York State has also ushered in changes to the minimum wage and the overtime exempt salary threshold effective December 31, 2018.

Minimum Wage Increase
Employers generally must pay nonexempt employees at least the minimum wage. Minimum wage throughout New York may vary based on the employer’s size, geographic location, or industry. With some exceptions for the hospitality industry (please contact us for any questions you may have), the table below outlines New York’s 2019 minimum wage:

Geographic Location	2019 Rate	2019 Tipped Rate
NYC (11 or more employees)	$15.00 per hour	$10.00 per hour
NYC (10 or fewer employees)	$13.50 per hour	$10.00 per hour
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties	$12.00 per hour	$8.65 per hour
Remainder of NY	$11.10 per hour	$7.85 per hour

The minimum wage is expected to increase annually until it reaches $15.00 per hour by the end of 2021 for all of New York State.

Increased Salary Threshold for Overtime Exemption
Both federal law (Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)) and state law (New York Minimum Wage Act and applicable regulations) generally require the payment of overtime wages for work performed after 40 hours per week. However, there are exemptions for certain salaried employees from federal and state minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. In addition to New York’s minimum wage increase, the minimum salary that must be paid to workers classified as exempt under New York State Labor Law’s administrative and executive exemptions increased as of December 31, 2018. As with minimum wage, the salary thresholds vary depending on the employer’s location and the number of employees. The table below outlines the revised thresholds in New York State:

Geographic Location	2019 Salary Threshold*
NYC (11 or more employees)	$1,125.00 per week ($58,500.00 annually)
NYC (10 or fewer employees)	$1,012.50 per week ($52,650.00 annually)
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties	$900.00 per week ($46,800.00 annually)
Remainder of NY	$832.00 per week ($43,264.00 annually)

*Numbers provided are pursuant to New York State law and are higher than the federal FLSA thresholds.
Employers should review their wage and hour practices annually to ensure that their employees are properly classified as exempt or non-exempt and that current minimum wage and overtime rates are being paid to qualified workers. Take advantage of the new year to give your practices a fresh look.
If you have questions about minimum wage, overtime, or wage and hour exemptions, please contact us.

To view 2020 minimum wage requirements, click here.

New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Increase January 1, 2019

Posted: December 31st, 2018

Tags: labor & employment

As of January 1, 2019, the length of paid leave and amount of weekly benefits under the New York Paid Family Leave Act (“PFLA”) increased, the first of three yearly increases. The PFLA, which took effect in 2018, provides eligible employees with job-protected, paid time off to (1) bond with a child, (2) care for a sick family member, or (3) assist family when a service member is deployed abroad.

Offering leave under the PFLA is required of all New York private employers. Employees, regardless of their citizenship and/or immigration status, are eligible for paid family leave under the law if they work (i) 20 or more hours per week for 26 consecutive weeks or (ii) less than 20 hours per week for 175 days.

In 2018, employees were eligible to earn 50% of their average weekly salary and take a maximum of eight weeks of paid leave of absence within a 52-consecutive week period. Beginning on or after January 1, 2019, leaves of absence taken under the PFLA will increase to a maximum of 10 weeks, and the benefit amount will also increase to 55% of an employee’s average weekly salary, up to a cap set at 55% of the state average weekly wage. In 2019, the PFLA benefits will be calculated based on the 2017 New York State average weekly wage, which is $1,357.11, so the new maximum weekly benefit will be $746.41 per week.

The benefits are funded through payroll deductions from all eligible employees. An employee’s mandatory payroll contribution toward the PFLA is also scheduled to increase beginning on January 1, 2019. The deduction amount will rise to 0.153% of an employee’s weekly salary, at an annual contribution amount less than the cap of $107.97, an increase from the 2018 deduction amount, which was 0.126% of an employee’s weekly salary, with an annual cap of $85.56. These new changes to the PFLA are summarized in the table below:

PFLA Benefits	2019	2018
Time Off	10 Weeks	8 Weeks
Weekly Benefit	55% (up to $746.41)	50% (up to $652.96)
Employee Contribution	0.153% of gross wages (annual cap of $107.97)	0.126% of gross wages (annual cap of $85.56)

As a reminder, in 2020, the maximum length of leave will stay at 10 weeks, but the benefits will be calculated based on 60% of an employee’s average weekly wage, up to a cap set at 60% of the state average weekly wage. In 2021, the last of the annual increases will go into effect, with the maximum length of paid leave increasing to 12 weeks in a 52-consecutive week period and benefits payable based on 67% of an employee’s average weekly wage, up to a cap set at 67% of the state average weekly wage.

Employers should confirm their 2019 paid family leave premiums with their insurance carriers and coordinate with their payroll providers to make sure that 2019 payroll will include the correct contribution rates. Written employment policy documents will also need to be updated if they include the specific PFLA benefit or deduction levels.
If you have questions about the PFLA, please contact us.