Michael serves as the Chair of the firm’s Employment Practice and has significant experience advising private and public employers on a wide variety of employment-related issues across a broad range of sectors, including the financial, professional services, life sciences, health care, real estate, energy, technology, media, retail, industrial, and governmental sectors.

Mike’s client-centric approach and consistent ability to provide practical advice that reduces risk and aligns with organizational and HR strategies is a continued testament to his broad expertise and leadership. He is singled out by Chambers USA sources as an “incredible advisor and asset to in-house legal departments and operations teams, sharing both his technical expertise and always providing practical guidance.” Chambers USA sources add that Mike is “extremely responsive, knowledgeable, practical, and commercial” and “distinguishes himself in the market by delivering information and work product in the most user-friendly manner possible, enabling teams to efficiently operate in a fast-paced environment.”

Clients turn to Mike for his expertise in navigating sophisticated and highly sensitive workplace matters, including:

Counseling on issues related to all aspects of the HR life cycle (from recruiting and onboarding, to retention and development, to separation and post-separation) covering discrimination, harassment and retaliation, wage and hour, leave and accommodation, restrictive covenant issues and other employment-related issues.
Conducting investigations of employee complaints, including discrimination and harassment complaints, and assisting management resolve other employee relations issues.
Auditing and assisting in the development and implementation of employment policies, procedures, and practices.
Conducting anti-discrimination / harassment and other HR and legal issue-based training regarding legal requirements, best practices, and risk mitigation.
Representing management and senior executives in connection with a variety of complex employment litigation matters, including pretrial, trial and appellate work; administrative discrimination charges and other agency proceedings (including EEOC, NYSDHR, NYCCHR, DOL, WCB); and arbitrations and mediations relating to wage and hour, discrimination, restrictive covenants, contract, and other employment-related disputes, including collective and class actions.
Drafting and negotiating employment-related agreements and policies, including offer letters, employment and consulting agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, separation agreements, and employee-related regulatory disclosures.
Representing clients in connection with corporate transactions and bankruptcy proceedings, including conducting employment-related due diligence and negotiating employment-related warrants and representations and related employment transaction documents.

As Chair of the Employment Practice, Mike works alongside firm leadership and key stakeholders to drive strategy and operations, while ensuring optimal client service. Mike also remains out in front on identifying and commenting on employment industry hot topics, including by authoring many posts for the group’s award-winning blog, regularly speaking and reporting on timely and important trends, and hosting the firm’s Annual Employment Law Summit.

Mike is a member of the firm's Policy Committee.

Represented a global financial institution in connection with multiple discrimination claims, including claims of national origin, age, sex, and pregnancy discrimination.
Represented an international media company in connection with claims of age and race discrimination arising out of a reduction in force.
Represented one of the world’s largest hotel chains in successfully obtaining a dismissal of an Article 78 wrongful termination proceeding.
Represented one of the nation's premier medical centers in successfully obtaining a dismissal of national origin and religious discrimination claims.
Represented a luxury residential and commercial real estate development and management company in defending against a wage/hour class action based on alleged failure to pay overtime.
Represented an independent global expert services and advisory firm in defending against claims of equal pay and sexual harassment.
Represented a state development agency in addressing a highly complex pandemic-related telecommuting disability accommodation issue.
Conducted a full-scale employment practices audit for a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company.
Conducted a hiring and onboarding employment practices audit for a national life insurance company.
Advised a global hospitality company on multiple reductions in force, including regarding WARN Act implications, disparate impact issues, OWBPA compliance, severance program structuring, and implementation of the same.
Advised a global consulting firm in successfully navigating mobility issues arising out of various new hires.
Advised an international Am Law 75 law firm in complying with its background check compliance obligations.
Advised a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company in connection with potential employment compliance issues related to the use of a remote workforce.
Conducted an internal investigation on behalf of a global consulting firm in response to an executive’s alleged sexual harassment.
Drafted and negotiated an executive employment agreement for a C-level executive at one of the nation’s largest debt securities underwriters.
Advised a multinational energy company in connection with its vaccination compliance obligations and overall policy strategy.
Advised a global banking institution in connection with the creation and implementation of a bonus plan.
Represented various employers in successfully vacating initial determinations of contractor misclassification before unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation agencies.
Advised various employers on their compliance obligations with respect to employee use of cannabis.
Guided numerous employers in redesigning their workplaces in the next phase of COVID, including by providing extensive counseling on designing an effective “return to office” strategy (in-person, hybrid, or remote), creating vaccination, booster, and testing policies and ensuring a safe office environment overall, realigning leave policies and procedures, and undertaking various workforce planning and change management exercises.
Guided numerous employers in formulating and implementing pay transparency strategies that ensure compliance and align with operational needs.

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COVID-19 Telecommuting Tax and Leave Issues for Employers

October 20, 2020 | Blog | By Emma Follansbee, Michael Arnold

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many employer telecommuting arrangements remain in place, with several large corporations opting to extend these arrangements well into 2021. The benefits of such arrangements have been clear for many employers during the pandemic, including that they permit continued productivity while keeping employees safe. However, the longer that employees remain out of the office, the more telecommuting-related issues arise, including with respect to taxation of employee income and leave requirements, which we discuss below.

October 8, 2020 | Blog | By Michael Arnold

With the presidential election less than a month away, it is more important than ever that employers proactively manage their work environment to protect against the potential pitfalls that can arise when political discussions occur in the workplace. The new remote working environment in which many employers find themselves only adds a layer of complexity to this challenge. We discuss this difficult issue further below.

September 30, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Michael Arnold

The New York State Paid Sick Leave Law’s accrual provisions go into effect today, September 30, 2020. In April, Governor Cuomo signed into law new permanent paid sick leave requirements for all New York State employers (separate from COVID-19 leave which was passed in March and went into effect immediately). Employees may begin using sick leave for purposes consistent with the law on January 1, 2021. Although we expect the New York State Department of Labor to issue guidance or regulations on the new law, the agency has not done so to date. We will continue to monitor for any updates.

Meanwhile, the New York City Council swiftly passed an updated Sick and Safe Time law to align the City’s law more closely with the New York State sick leave law. But there are some important differences with the State’s sick leave law.

Our full analysis of New York State’s new paid sick leave law can be found here. More information on the City’s updated sick leave law, which also went into effect today, is addressed further below.

September 20, 2020 | Blog | By Danielle Bereznay, Michael Arnold

The Department of Labor has again updated its guidance regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ("FFCRA").
Below we summarize the DOL’s interpretative guidance, and note in bold where the DOL has either reaffirmed or changed its guidance in light of the federal court decision. As a reminder, the law expires on December 31, 2020.

September 8, 2020 | Blog | By Delaney Busch, Jennifer Rubin, Michael Arnold

The reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present challenges for working parents and the businesses that employ them. Not surprisingly, a one-size-fits-all approach for employers to appropriately manage working parents is likely difficult, if not impossible, to craft. In this post, we highlight some of the risks employers may face while offering some guidance regarding best practices to address these risks.

August 10, 2020 | Blog | By Danielle Bereznay, Michael Arnold, Corbin Carter

As employees increasingly transition back into the physical workplace, employers have begun to grapple with whether and how to deploy COVID-19 diagnostic testing as a return-to-work solution. Many employers want to avoid extended employee quarantine or isolation requirements that prevent their employees from returning to the office for weeks and disrupt their operations. But is this potential solution legal? And is it effective? Below we discuss practical considerations for employers considering a return to work COVID-19 testing strategy.

July 29, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Michael Arnold

A New York State Trial Court judge recently ruled that an agreement between a company and an employee to arbitrate sexual harassment claims was unenforceable due to 2018 amendments to New York State’s Human Rights Law, which prohibit such arrangements. The decision creates a split in authority, as a 2019 decision by a judge in the Southern District of New York – a federal court – upheld the enforceability of such arbitration agreements, ruling that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts the New York statutory prohibition. This decision also now creates some uncertainty around the viability of arbitration agreements in New York where employees agree to arbitrate discrimination claims. We summarize the decision below.

June 16, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Michael Arnold

In a landmark opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from employment discrimination. The Court’s holding will have major implications for employers and LGBTQ employees in dozens of states where state and/or local law did not already prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status.

June 2, 2020 | Blog | By Alexander Song, Anne Bruno, Michael Arnold, Steve Gulotta, Andrew Bernstein

Employers reacted in a variety of ways to cope with the unprecedented financial impact of COVID-19. Employers must begin to shift their focus to whether their current executive compensation practices are designed with sufficient incentives to retain key employees and to spur recovery and sustained growth. This post reviews the range of cost-cutting measures companies have enacted over the past few months, and provides guidance on executive compensation issues employers should consider as they move forward in a COVID-19 world.

May 31, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Michael Arnold

New York State has issued industry-specific interim guidance for “Phase 2” businesses, which includes a number of “minimum requirements” certain businesses must meet before reopening their workplaces in light of COVID-19. The new Phase 2 guidance provides specific guidelines relating to office-based jobs (excluding medical offices); real estate services; select in-store retail; commercial building management; retail rental, repair and cleaning services; and vehicle sales, leases and rentals. Importantly, this new guidance applies to “non-essential” businesses in these industries where regions are permitted to reopen, as well as “essential” businesses throughout the state that were previously permitted to remain open. As various regions begin progressing through the reopening phases under the New York Forward initiative, businesses should become thoroughly familiar with these new obligations and begin taking steps toward achieving compliance.