Companies turn to David Michael for practical and experienced counsel informed by more than 25 years of handling complex human resources, employment, and labor issues for management. David helps employers navigate the often-tricky nature of multilayered government laws and regulations and advocates for them in disputes at governmental agencies and in state and federal courts.
As the Chair of Gould & Ratner’s Human Resources and Employment Practice, David represents a wide variety of clients, ranging from middle-market public and private companies to closely held and family-run businesses to not for profit organizations. He works closely with employers and their HR professionals, providing proactive advice on a variety of particularly complex employment-related topics including:
- navigating the provisions of the various laws allowing for employee leave, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act
- counseling employers on employee discipline and discharge-related matters,
- effecting plant closings without liability,
- avoiding legal pitfalls when hiring employees,
- investigating sexual harassment complaints,
- accommodating pregnant or disabled employees,
- implementing strategies to ensure exemptions from overtime, and
- developing better systems to document disciplinary actions.
David has won numerous employment-related lawsuits involving all aspects of employment law, including race, national origin, age and disability discrimination, sexual harassment, restrictive covenants, workers’ compensation retaliation, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of fiduciary duty.
In addition to litigation, David also assists employers with training their workforces on employment-related topics. He routinely conducts training seminars for employers and their employees on topics such as harassment prevention, performance management, employment discrimination basics, hiring and firing, accommodating disabled employees, leadership, workplace violence and risk management.
David frequently writes and speaks on current topics in human resources and employment law. In addition, he is the editor and a frequent contributor to Gould & Ratner’s HR Law Blog. David has served in a similar capacity for the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation and authored articles for numerous magazines and newsletters on a wide variety of employment-related topics.
When David is not helping his clients solve complicated employee problems, you can find him running, playing guitar, designing furniture, serving on community and charitable boards or cheering on his beloved Manchester United to victory.
