J.C. Penney hired a high-profile executive to reinvent the brand.

On paper, it looked like the right move.

But within months, sales declined, customers pulled back, and internal teams struggled to keep up with sweeping changes.

The issue wasn’t experience.

It was alignment.

Because when leadership vision doesn’t match business reality, even the most impressive hire can become the most expensive one.

In 2012, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson resigned after it was discovered that his official biography listed a computer science degree he never earned. The discrepancy, first raised by activist investor Dan Loeb, quickly raised questions about leadership credibility and the company’s vetting process. Within months of taking the role, Thompson stepped down amid the controversy—turning what seemed like a small résumé detail into a major leadership issue.

In a recent high-profile case, the EEOC sued a McDonald’s franchise after teenage employees reported sexual harassment by a supervisor — and management failed to act.

FMLA didn’t change this week.

But how easily it can be misapplied did.

A quiet update from the Department of Labor clarified two areas employers get wrong all the time — and it’s a reminder that compliance risk rarely comes from the rules you don’t know.

It comes from the ones you think you understand.