WASHINGTON — Most employment lawsuits don’t start with intentional wrongdoing. They start with shortcuts, outdated policies and gut reactions that seem reasonable in the moment but create serious legal exposure down the road.
During a recent National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) webinar, Tony Dalimonte, an employment attorney with Foster Swift Collins & Smith in Michigan, walked small-business owners through the employment law changes and risks they need to understand in 2026.
“Most of these claims start with something small — a denied schedule change, an outdated policy, a manager making a gut decision on the fly,” Dalimonte says. “But once a lawyer or a federal agency gets involved, those small decisions can get scrutinized very carefully, and the cost of defending them is far greater than fixing the issue on the front end.”
For drycleaning business owners juggling their day-to-day operations, reviewing employment law might not be at the top of their to-do list. But small businesses are sued just as often as large corporations, Dalimonte says, and they feel the impact even more.
The employee handbook stands as one of the most important documents a business has, Dalimonte says, but it’s also one of the most commonly mishandled.
“Courts and government agencies treat it as your rulebook,” he says. “If you say you have certain policies, they expect you to follow them. A handbook can be your first line of defense, or it...
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