Regulations for Small Business What new regulatory requirements from the federal government on down are small businesses facing in 2025? In this first of a three-part series, we will cover some of them, related to changes in and current status of tax policy. First of all, the new year brings…
New Laws, New Year Part 2 Illinois small businesses need to get up to speed on a variety of state legislation passed in the previous session that came online on January 1. We covered several new provisions in a post last week, including a higher state minimum wage and legislation…
Illinois Employers Face New Laws 2025 Guest Author: Kelsey Feucht, Associate Attorney with Bellas & Wachowski Illinois small businesses need to get up to speed on a variety of state legislation – particularly employment laws – which became effective on January 1. Key new laws (or amendments to existing legislation)…
Wire Tapping vs. Browser Tracking? Software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics that website operators use to track what sites a person visits, or what footprint they leave on those sites, is not subject to the same restrictions as wiretapping a phone line, according to a split decision from the…
Holiday Business Parties With the holiday season in full swing, workplaces often become the site of parties, gift exchanges, and other festive activities. These activities foster camaraderie among coworkers and allow teams to celebrate their accomplishments. Unfortunately, though, they can also sometimes lead to inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment, which…
Make Sure Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Stymie Whistleblowing Small businesses who enter into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with employees need to ensure that those documents clearly delineate that they will not be used to discriminate against those who engage in “whistleblower” activity—or such employers could potentially face unpleasant regulatory consequences. This was…
Illinois Human Rights Act Expanded to Include AI Regulation Recently, Illinois Governor Pritzker signed H.B. 3773 into law, marking a significant expansion of the Illinois Human Rights Act to include specific regulations on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in employment decisions. This move reflects the state’s ongoing commitment to…
Time to Review Severance Agreement Employers who have not already done so should comprehensively review their past and present severance agreements to ensure that any non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses contained therein do not run afoul of the National Labor Relations Board’s ruling in a February 2023 case called McLaren Macomb,…
Chicago Paid Leave Ordinance Employers physically located within the City of Chicago need to be ready as of July 1 to implement the new Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance, which stipulates that covered employees can earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave and…
Non-Competes Now a Nonstarter This is really big news! Businesses that have entered into non-compete agreements with current or recently departed employees will need to come up with other ways of achieving the investment-protecting goals those non-competes were designed to accomplish. That’s because the Federal Trade Commission has issued a…