Seven Deadly Legal Mistakes in Hiring & Managing Your Employees

Shield Your Business From Lawsuits, Wage Claims, and Costly Employment Mistakes — Without Going to Law School

Seven Deadly Legal Mistakes in Hiring and Managing Your Employees
Hiring employees is one of the fastest ways to grow a business.
It’s also one of the fastest ways to expose yourself to serious legal risk.
Many business owners assume that if they “treat people fairly” and “use common sense,” they’ll be fine. Others rely on informal arrangements, outdated templates, or advice pulled from the internet. The result is often the same: wage claims, misclassification penalties, discrimination complaints, tax problems, or lawsuits that could have been avoided.
Seven Deadly Legal Mistakes in Hiring and Managing Your Employees is part of the Seven Deadly Legal Mistakes series and is written for entrepreneurs and small business owners who hire—or plan to hire—employees and want to understand where the real legal risks actually come from.
This book focuses on the mistakes that most often get businesses into trouble with employees—not because owners intend to do anything wrong, but because employment law is unintuitive, unforgiving, and full of traps for the unwary.
Inside, you’ll learn how to avoid common employment mistakes such as:

• Misclassifying workers as independent contractors
• Paying wages, overtime, or bonuses incorrectly
• Using informal or poorly drafted offer letters and policies
• Failing to document performance, discipline, and termination decisions
• Mishandling leaves, accommodations, and workplace complaints
• Ignoring payroll tax and withholding obligations
• Treating employment law compliance as an afterthought

Each chapter breaks down one deadly mistake, explains why it matters, shows how it typically unfolds when things go wrong, and highlights the decision points where business owners unknowingly create exposure.
This book is not a human resources manual.
It’s not a law school treatise.
And it’s not written to scare you into hiring lawyers.
It’s a practical, fast-reading guide designed to help business owners understand the legal realities of hiring and managing people, recognize risks before they escalate, and make informed decisions that protect both the business and the owner.
About the Series
The Seven Deadly Legal Mistakes Series provides a practical legal framework for entrepreneurs. Each book can be read on its own, but together they show how legal risk quietly accumulates across contracts, structure, operations, and people—and how to manage that risk before it becomes expensive, distracting, or destructive.
If you plan to hire employees—or already have them—this book will help you avoid the legal mistakes that cost businesses the most.