Business Management

RSS Link

For Illinois employers, workers’ compensation claims can create staffing challenges, disrupt operations, increase costs, and raise difficult questions about how and when an injured employee can return to work. The decisions made after an injury is reported often have a lasting impact on the claim and the employee’s recovery. Fortunately, there are steps employers can take throughout the workers’ compensation process to help reduce risk and improve return-to-work outcomes.

Document Workplace Injuries from Day One
The return-to-work process begins

…
Continue Reading Illinois Workers' Compensation: Best Practices for Returning Injured Employees to Work

Illinois employers that require a valid driver’s license in job postings may need to revise their hiring practices before January 1, 2027. A recent amendment to the Illinois Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act—known as the “Ban the Box” law—prohibits employers from requiring a driver’s license in a job posting unless certain conditions are met. Employers that continue to include unnecessary driver’s license requirements could face enforcement action and civil penalties.

The Act seeks to expand employment opportunities

…
Continue Reading Illinois Employers Face New Restrictions on Driver's License Requirements in Job Postings Beginning 2027

law_firm_for_sale_window-ChatGPT-image-1200x630

Imagine you find the perfect business to buy. The owner is approaching retirement after a long and successful career. The company has a strong reputation in the market. Revenue appears healthy. Employees seem happy and experienced. After some promising conversations, you and the seller strike a deal and work toward closing. At this point, most buyers are excited about why the deal makes sense. After all, the buyer has spent time and effort to reach a deal.
Then the…
Continue Reading Buying a Business? You Might Not Be Buying What You Think You’re Buying

On September 9, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) circulated proposed revisions to its consent-revocation rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) docketed for consideration at the FCC’s September 30, 2026, Open Meeting. If adopted substantially as proposed, these revisions generally would become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register and would supersede the January 2027 effective date of the FCC’s twice-delayed nuclear-revocation ruling. The FCC will identify a specific effective date once that information becomes…
Continue Reading TCPA Update: FCC Seeks to Overhaul Consent Revocation Rules

https-www-lexern-com-wp-content-uploads-2026-09-chatgpt-image-sep-22-2026-10_57_06-pm-1024x576-png

If you’re a Business Owner, your estate plan and business plan need to work together. If you could not act tomorrow, the same event could affect payroll, clients, partners, employees, and your family. This is where the question is not only about who inherits the business. It is who can step in, what authority they have, and whether the documents you already trust give a consistent answer.

Many owners built these plans at different times, with different advisers,

…
Continue Reading Why Integrated Estate and Business Planning Works

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently proposed eliminating the requirement for covered employers to provide workforce demographic information through the annual EEO-1 Report. If finalized, the change would reduce a longstanding federal reporting obligation for many employers.

However, employers should not assume that elimination of the report will make workforce demographic information irrelevant. To the contrary, employers may have good reasons to continue collecting and analyzing this information, even if they no longer have to submit it

…
Continue Reading If EEO-1 Reporting Ends, Should Employers Continue Collecting Workforce Demographic Data?

Wisconsin has updated its child labor regulations, prompting employers that hire minors to review their compliance practices.

Effective June 1, 2026, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) implemented Administrative Rule CR 26-015, a comprehensive update to the state’s child labor regulations. The rule revises Chapter DWD 270, repeals Chapter DWD 271, and reorganizes numerous provisions governing the employment of minors and street trades.

Although CR 26-015 does not dramatically change the actual rules governing child labor in Wisconsin,

…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Child Labor Law Update: Compliance Considerations for Employers Hiring Minors

A growing trend in Illinois trucking litigation is placing motor carriers under increased legal and financial scrutiny. As plaintiffs increasingly pursue punitive damages against motor carriers, lawsuits are expanding beyond questions of driver negligence and into the company’s hiring, training, supervision, and safety practices.

Why Are Punitive Damages Increasingly Common in Illinois Trucking Litigation?
After Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill that allows the recovery of punitive damages in wrongful death and survival actions, the state…
Continue Reading How Motor Carriers Can Mitigate Punitive Damage Exposure in Illinois Trucking Litigation

Employers acquiring a business with a unionized workforce may soon have more flexibility to challenge the incumbent union’s status than they have had for decades. On July 21, the D.C. Circuit held in Hospital Menonita de Guayama, Inc. v. NLRB that the National Relations Labor Board (NLRB ) never had the authority to impose its “successor bar” doctrine, a rule that generally requires a successor employer to continue bargaining with an existing union for up to a year

…
Continue Reading NLRB Successor Bar Under Fire: What Employers Buying Unionized Businesses Need to Know

Why Commercialization Readiness Should Come Before Spending Development Dollars
The greatest legal risks in commercialization often arise before anyone uses the word “commercialization.” Long before an innovation or research asset is licensed, transferred, deployed or otherwise commercialized, a startup is formed or an industry partner is identified, research organizations make decisions that affect ownership, control, regulatory strategy, payment pathways and future economic value. By the time proof of concept is achieved, many of those decisions are difficult, expensive or…
Continue Reading Innovation, Ownership and Opportunity: Why Commercialization Begins During Clinical Research, Not After

If you are a solo or small firm practitioner in Wisconsin, you might assume that the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), found at 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., is a headache reserved exclusively for banks, mortgage lenders, and auto finance companies.

That assumption would be faulty. In reality, TILA can apply to local businesses, home contractors, and service providers.

When you pair TILA with Wisconsin’s counterpart – the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA), Wis. Stat. chapters 421-427 –…
Continue Reading How to Keep Your Business Clients from Becoming Accidental Creditors

Drone Shot of Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee at Night
Aerial shot of East Town Milwaukee, Wisconsin at night from over the lakefront, looking towards the downtown office buildings of Juneau Town

Running a business in Wisconsin is no small feat. Between managing employees, serving customers, monitoring cash flow, and planning for growth, it is easy to let the “formal” requirements of operating through a separate legal entity slip down the priority list. Yet corporate housekeeping is more than paperwork. It helps preserve the distinction between the business and its owners, supports sound decision-making, and makes the company easier to finance, insure, sell, or transition.

The practical rule: operate the business…
Continue Reading Staying on Track: Why Wisconsin Businesses Should Prioritize Corporate Housekeeping

When building a successful brand, businesses may more often focus on protecting their name, logo, and other trademarks, but a brand’s value can extend far beyond these traditional identifiers. The colors, packaging, product design, and overall visual presentation that customers associate with your business can become valuable assets of their own. This is where trade dress protection comes into play.

For many businesses, the way a product looks is just as important as the product itself. A distinctive design…
Continue Reading Trade Dress Matters: Protecting Your Brand’s Look, Feel, and Competitive Advantage

Two female doctors chatting while walking upstairs in a hospital
Two female doctors, wearing blue scrubs, are walking up a staircase in a hospital, chatting together. They appear to be in a good mood. There are other medical professionals walking in the background.

For years, Wisconsin has been among a shrinking group of states that require advanced practice nurses to maintain a collaborative agreement with a physician or dentist in order to practice. That is about to change. On September 1, 2026, the APRN Modernization Act (Act 17) takes effect, moving Wisconsin from a system that certifies advanced practice nurse prescribers (APNPs) to one that licenses advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and, for qualifying nurses, permits independent practice for the first time.
Continue Reading Wisconsin’s APRN Modernization Act – New Emergency Rules Chart the Path to Independent Practice

July 17, 2026

Due to the sustained increase in the price of fuel, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has increased the optional standard mileage rates mid-year for computing the deductible cost of operating an automobile for business, medical, and moving expenses.

Effective July 1, 2026, the optional standard mileage rates are 76 cents per mile for business transportation, and 23.5 cents per mile for travel relating to medical and moving transportation expenses.

These increased mileage rates apply only…
Continue Reading On the Move: IRS Increases Standard Mileage Rates Mid-Year

On April 30, 2026, at the Health Care Compliance Association’s 2026 Compliance Institute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) introduced its updated Corporate Integrity Agreement (“CIA”) template, using the Kinex Medical Company CIA as its model. The updated template retains the core elements of an effective compliance program while introducing significant enhancements that reflect OIG’s evolving compliance expectations.
Evolution of Corporate Integrity Agreements and Compliance Program Requirements
The new CIA template introduces…
Continue Reading OIG’s New CIA Template Enhances Compliance Obligations for Health Care Organizations