Firms With 500 or Less Employees Qualify for Loans

April 16, 2020

The Associate General Contractors of America (AGC) announced that the Trump administration released a new guidance that now allows firms with 500 or fewer employees impacted by Covid-19 to qualify for the new Paycheck Protection Program Loans.

Association officials noted that the administration released the new guidance after the association raised concerns that firms with 500 or fewer employees appeared to be excluded from the program. 

“Administration officials have done the right thing and revised their guidance to allow, as Congress intended, for firms that employ 500 or fewer people to qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program loans,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the Association’s chief executive officer. “This change means the program is now more likely to help smaller firms continue to operate and retain staff.”

On April 2, the Small Business Administration issued an “interim final rule” to the effect that a business must have 500 or fewer employees and fall below the agency’s small business size standards—which for construction businesses are generally determined by an average annual income threshold, not number of employees threshold—in order to qualify for the new Paycheck Protection Program.  .

Source: AGC