Findings
On the statute's words, on Tri-State's definitions, on the United States' own representations and on the orders in the Library, employers in professional, technical and information services in the United States had the operation of their trade or business partially suspended during each of the six calendar quarters from the second quarter of 2020 through the third quarter of 2021 due to orders from appropriate governmental authorities limiting commerce, travel and group meetings due to COVID-19. The Service's contrary account of the period is not a contest of weight; it is a description of a period that did not occur.
The second quarter of 2020
During the calendar quarter beginning April 1, 2020 and ending June 30, 2020, the operation of the trade or business of employers in this industry was partially suspended due to the stay-at-home, business-closure and telework orders of every State and the District of Columbia, the closure and suspension orders of every State and federal court, the cancellation of every professional examination, the closure of recorders and licensing offices, and the suspension of consular services and entry, each an order from an appropriate governmental authority limiting commerce, travel or group meetings due to COVID-19.
The third quarter of 2020
During the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2020 and ending September 30, 2020, that operation was partially suspended due to the office-capacity and telework orders of the reopening States, the State workplace standards, the court orders that kept proceedings remote and juries suspended, the examination orders, the entry proclamations, the interstate traveler quarantines and the paid-leave mandate.
The fourth quarter of 2020
During the calendar quarter beginning October 1, 2020 and ending December 31, 2020, that operation was partially suspended due to the winter re-tightening orders that re-closed or re-capped offices in seventeen jurisdictions, the remote-work rules of the State occupational-safety agencies, the court orders that barred trials again, and the examination and entry orders.
The first quarter of 2021
During the calendar quarter beginning January 1, 2021 and ending March 31, 2021, that operation was partially suspended due to the continuing winter orders through their stepped expiry, the federal workplace order with its occupational-health controls of face coverings and distancing, the twenty-five-percent occupancy cap, the conveyance order with its airborne-transmission controls of face coverings and boarding refusal, the entry proclamations, the court orders and the examination orders.
The second quarter of 2021
During the calendar quarter beginning April 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2021, that operation was partially suspended due to the office and telework orders in force to their expiry between April 4 and June 30, 2021, the workplace standards, the federal workplace, conveyance and entry orders, the court orders and the examination orders.
The third quarter of 2021
During the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2021 and ending September 30, 2021, that operation was partially suspended due to the federal workplace, contractor, conveyance, entry, border and court orders, the New York exposure-prevention plans and their activation, the California, Virginia, Oregon and Washington workplace standards, the State and metro face-covering, exposure-control, vaccination and emergency orders from July 17, 2021 onward, the court orders of the United States and of at least twenty-nine States, and the notarial, licensing and counterparty instruments in force on every day of the quarter.
The standards
In each quarter the orders caused a temporary delay, interruption or termination of a more than nominal portion of the industry's operations; in each quarter the suspension existed "during the calendar quarter"; and in each quarter, but for the orders, no law required the change.184
The Library is organized by layer: the federal instruments, the States, the metros, the agencies, the ecosystem, the sector regulators, the standing duties and the legal authorities. Each exhibit is a file saved from the issuing authority or an identifiable secondary source, indexed with its issuer, instrument, dates, in-force quarters, limitation types, grade, retrieval route and source; only exhibits graded verified are cited by name on this page.