Articles Posted in Small Business

E4DADDE9-71EB-48EB-B75B-5DE2649B6BE9-300x200Most business owners think of their employee handbook as a formality.

A document you put together when you hired your first few employees, maybe pulled from a template, maybe had someone review it years ago. It lives in a folder on a shared drive or in a stack of onboarding paperwork. New hires sign it. Nobody reads it closely. It sits there doing what you assume is its job.

Here is the problem. That assumption is costing Illinois businesses significant money, and it is creating legal exposure that most owners do not discover until they are already in litigation.

67888434-CAFB-435F-A004-C35C87F6A72F-300x200You opened your email this morning and something stopped you cold.

A letter. From an attorney. Addressed to your business.

The words “cease and desist” are somewhere near the top, followed by phrases like “immediate action required,” “legal liability,” and “failure to comply may result in litigation.”

1D885828-AC8E-4C7D-8E85-13945F1AEBC2-300x200What is the current status of noncompetes?

The FTC’s sweeping 2024 rule that would have banned nearly all noncompete agreements nationwide never took effect. Federal courts blocked it, and the FTC formally abandoned its appeal. There is currently no federal ban on noncompetes.

What about Illinois?

570D7EA7-943D-4ED8-A004-D6F4E9CD58EA-300x200Most business owners believe forming an LLC is the finish line.

It’s not. It’s the starting point.

And in 2026, we are seeing a clear shift: personal liability is creeping back in, even for business owners who think they are protected.

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