Michael S. Arnold
Member / Chair, Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice
+1.212.692.6866
Michael Arnold is Chair of the firm's Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice. He is an employment lawyer who deftly handles a wide array of matters. His capabilities include counseling on everyday HR life cycle issues, defending management and senior executives in connection with employment-related proceedings, and assisting companies navigate the complex employment issues that arise in transactions. Michael’s clients appreciate his strong emphasis on providing not just legal advice, but also practical advice, that aligns with organizational and HR strategies while reducing exposure. He also prides himself on being user-friendly, responsive, and strategic.
When Michael is not with a client, he’s out there leading the Firm’s Employment, Labor and Benefits Section. He is still quite active blogging for Mintz’s award-winning Employment Matters Blog, where he currently serves as an Editor and where he’s twice been named a top author by JD Supra (2016 and 2017). His peers seem to like him too as they have recognized him consistently; first he was included on the New York Super Lawyers Rising Star List in 2012 and then included among the New York Super Lawyers List from 2013 through the present.
More specifically, here is what Michael is practicing on a day to day basis:
- Counseling on issues related to the HR life cycle (recruiting, staffing, performance, including evaluations and PIPs; engagement, retention, separation, including reduction in force; post-separation, including employee mobility issues), and compliance with discrimination, wage and hour, family and medical leave, workers’ compensation and disability, and other employment laws and regulations.
- Investigating and reporting on employee complaints, including sexual harassment and discrimination complaints, and assisting management resolve other employee relations issues.
- Conducting anti-discrimination/harassment and other HR and legal issue-based training seminars regarding legal requirements, best practices, and risk mitigation.
- Auditing and assisting in the development and implementation of employment policies, procedures, and practices.
- Representing management and senior executives in connection with a variety of complex employment litigation matters, including pre-trial, 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.
Education
- Boston University School of Law (JD)
- Cornell University (BS, Industrial and Labor Relations)
Recognition & Awards
- Included on the New York Super Lawyers: Employment & Labor List (2019)
Recent Insights
Viewpoints
Executive Compensation: Moving Forward in a COVID-19 World
June 2, 2020|Blog
New York State Releases Reopening Guidance for Phase 2 Businesses
May 31, 2020|Blog
News & Press
Member and leader of the firm’s Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice Mike Arnold is quoted in this March Madness feature article. The story notes that employers should use this as an opportunity to create and foster company camaraderie and try to avoid being too harsh on employees.
Viewpoints
Executive Compensation: Moving Forward in a COVID-19 World
June 2, 2020 | Blog | By Alexander Song, Anne Bruno, Michael Arnold, Steve Gulotta, Andrew Bernstein, Alexandra Serre
Employers reacted in a variety of ways to cope with the unprecedented financial impact of COVID-19. Many of the initial executive compensation responses were designed as cost-cutting measures that would ease cash flow burdens and provide flexibility in uncertain times. Now, as the “new normal” American workplace begins to take shape, 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.
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New York State Releases Reopening Guidance for Phase 2 Businesses
May 31, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Michael Arnold, Jessica Catlow
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.
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Part Nine of the COVID-19 Roadmap Series: Ensuring Compliance – Leave Management
May 18, 2020 | Blog | By Corbin Carter, Natalie Young, Michael Arnold, Andrew Matzkin
As management and human resources professionals are well aware, COVID-19 has drastically and rapidly impacted the workplace. Among other things, employees require more flexibility, employers are increasingly reliant upon remote work arrangements, and legislative and administrative responses to the pandemic from various levels of government have created new requirements for businesses, including new leave entitlements for employees. In Part Nine of our Roadmap Series, we explore key considerations surrounding leave management and compliance as employees and businesses navigate this new terrain.
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Updated: Department of Labor Issues Guidance for Families First Coronavirus Response Act
May 13, 2020 | Blog | By Danielle Bereznay, Michael Arnold
On March 23, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued guidance regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which goes into effect on April 2, 2020. Here are the takeaways from the guidance.
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Part Five of the COVID-19 Roadmap Series: Ensuring a Safe Workplace - COVID-19 Screening and Testing
May 6, 2020 | Blog | By Nicole Rivers, Michael Arnold, Karen Lovitch, Hope Foster, Cynthia Larose
In Part 5 of our Roadmap Series, we take a closer look at COVID-19 screening and testing, including best practices and legal implications, as potential tools to maintain a safe workplace.
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New York’s Department of Health Provides Guidance on Face Coverings for Essential Workers
April 25, 2020 | Blog | By Michael Arnold, Corbin Carter
On April 12, 2020, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.16 mandating that essential businesses in New York require their employees to wear face coverings when in direct contact with customers or members of the public. The New York State Department of Health has now issued guidance regarding the order, which went into effect April 15th. We highlight the provisions of the order and the DOH guidance below.
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UPDATED: New York Issues Important Guidance on COVID-19 Quarantine Leave Law
April 24, 2020 | Blog | By Michael Arnold, Corbin Carter
New York State issued guidance on March 20th detailing answers to many frequently asked questions about the newly implemented COVID-19 quarantine leave law. We summarized the key components of the emergency law, which was enacted on March 18, 2020 and became effective immediately, in a previous blog post. In short, employers are immediately obligated to provide certain paid/unpaid leave (with duration and pay status varying based on the employer’s size), job protection, and expanded paid family leave and disability benefits to employees who are subject to a government-issued order of mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19.
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Updated: Summary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s FFCRA Regulations
April 22, 2020 | Blog | By Nicole Rivers, Michael Arnold, Katharine Beattie
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has released its 124-page temporary regulations of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).
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Not a COVID-19 Blog Post: New York State Passes Permanent Paid Sick Leave Measures into Law
April 8, 2020 | Blog | By Michael Arnold, Corbin Carter
Following the enactment of COVID-19 quarantine leave benefits in March, New York State has now enacted permanent paid sick leave measures, which will require New York employers to provide various amounts of sick leave to employees starting on January 1, 2021. This post highlight the new requirements of the law.
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New York State to Provide Paid Sick Leave, Other COVID-19 Protections for Workers
March 27, 2020 | Blog | By Michael Arnold, Corbin Carter
As New York State announced that it had confirmed over 2,300 cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law new requirements for New York State employees affected by the virus. The new law was swiftly enacted in light of the urgent public health and economic crises facing the state, and goes into effect immediately. It mandates that New York employers offer paid sick leave and job protections for workers quarantined as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
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News & Press
4 Slam-Dunk Tips For Employers To Swish March Madness
March 15, 2018
Member and leader of the firm’s Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice Mike Arnold is quoted in this March Madness feature article. The story notes that employers should use this as an opportunity to create and foster company camaraderie and try to avoid being too harsh on employees.
Fourteen Mintz attorneys have been named New York Super Lawyers for 2017 and thirteen have been named New York Rising Stars. New York Super Lawyers recognizes the top lawyers with the highest degree of peer recognition and professional achievements.
Eighteen Mintz Attorneys Named 2013 New York Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
September 16, 2017
Mintz Named Top Firm in Energy and Eleven Attorneys Featured in JD Supra’s 2017 Reader’s Choice Awards
March 20, 2017
JD Supra has recognized Mintz in its 2017 Reader’s Choice awards, highlighting the most widely read authors and articles over the past year. Eleven Mintz attorneys were named JD Supra Top Authors in four industries and Mintz was recognized as the Top Firm with readers in the Energy Industry.
How to Proceed After Last-Minute Overtime Rule Freeze
November 23, 2016
Michael Arnold, a Mintz Employment, Labor & Benefits Member, was quoted in this Society for Human Resource Management article on the U.S. District Court for the Easter District of Texas’s temporary decision to place a nationwide hold on the overtime rule.
Sixteen Mintz attorneys have been named New York Super Lawyers for 2016 and twelve have been named New York Rising Stars. The list will be published in a special advertising supplement in The New York Times Magazine and in a stand-alone magazine, New York Super Lawyers - Metro Edition.
Michael Arnold, a New York Employment, Labor & Benefits Member, was quoted in this Law360 article on attorney feedback regarding the U.S. Department of Labor’s final overtime exemption rule.
White Collar OT Rules
May 19, 2016
Michael Arnold, a New York Employment, Labor & Benefits Member, is quoted in this news segment on the forthcoming US Department of Labor final rule regarding the “salary test” determining whether white collar workers will be subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act requirements for overtime pay.
Thirteen attorneys from Mintz have been named New York Super Lawyers for 2014 and eleven have been named New York Rising Stars. The list will be published in a special advertising supplement in The New York Times Magazine and in a stand-alone magazine, New York Super Lawyers - Metro Edition.
Mintz Elevates Ten Attorneys to Members of the Firm
May 16, 2013
Events
Speaker
Apr
30
2019
Mintz's Fifth Annual Employment Law Summit
Princeton Club of New York
Speaker
Jun
21
2016
Speaker
Jan
28
2016
Second Annual Employment Law Summit
The Princeton Club 14 West 43rd Street, New York, New York
Speaker
Jan
20
2015