Michael Kass is chair of Armstrong Teasdale's Employment and Labor Law practice group and is a former co-chair of the firm's Non-Compete/Trade Secrets practice group. He guides organizations, from small closely-held businesses to Fortune 100 companies, through the complex issues faced when managing employees.
Michael defends employers and their managers in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. Such matters involve the wide spectrum of employment litigation, including claims concerning employment agreements, Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection, sales commissions and compensation issues, sexual harassment, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), medical leave issues under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and various other forms of discrimination under Title VII.
A considerable portion of Michael’s practice is devoted to both counseling clients and litigating claims concerning non-compete and non-solicitation agreements and the protection of trade secrets. He regularly provides strategic counseling and pursues or defends claims on behalf of employers attempting to enforce agreements and statutory rights against former employees, on behalf of employers hiring employees from a competitor and on behalf of individual employees. He also handles some types of business litigation, including shareholder disputes in closely-held entities.
Well-versed in policies and best practices within the non-compete/trade secrets and employment law areas, Michael writes, speaks, and trains on these topics regularly. He crafts specially-tailored programs that focus on maximizing the ability of a company to prevent unfair competition by former employees, as well as programs that focus on preventatively guarding against the threat of employment-related suits in general. And for many companies, he develops executive employment agreements, personnel policies, employee manuals and other employment-related documents. He also counsels executives who are in need of advice concerning the terms of their own employment agreements with companies.
Additionally, Michael provides general counsel services to business clients regarding many general business issues and customizes business and legal strategies to meet each client’s overall goals and objectives. He handles various issues involving contract preparation for customer, vendor and employment relationships and general corporate governance and entity formation.