Meet Michael
Michael Taibleson helps his clients navigate the complex world of employee compensation and benefit matters. He advises employers, retirement plan fiduciaries, insurers and plan administrators on strategies for implementing, administering and the remediation of benefit plans for new hires, current employees and retirees. He has in-depth knowledge and experience regarding compensation and benefits that meets the specific needs of clients in the for-profit, nonprofit, governmental, health care, higher education, and transportation sectors. His experience also includes matters involving ERISA and tax litigation, and he has successfully negotiated numerous favorable settlements of multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability on behalf of participating employers.
Michael advises clients from various industries on managing employee benefits matters in mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy. He is experienced working with large multinational corporations on issues related to benefits and compensation for expatriates and third country nationals including plan design and resolution of tax, ERISA, and ACA issues, which have provided significant savings to his clients over the years.
Education
Juris Doctor, Chicago Kent Law School, with honors
Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Activities
Chair, Moderator and Founder, State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Employee Benefits Update (2004-present)
Chair, Membership Committee at CEEBJ (Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun)
Former Chair, State Bar of Wisconsin-Tax Section
Honors
Recognized by Chambers USA (Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, 2023)
Listed in Best Lawyers in America (Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2021 - present; Employment Law - Management, 2024 - present; Labor Law - Mangement, 2025 - present)
Admitted To Practice
Illinois, WisconsinProfessional Associations
State Bar of WisconsinAdvises on a variety of benefit issues under the CARES Act and FFCRA
Provides ERISA fiduciary advice (formation, governance operation of plan committees, committee charters, claims and appeals)
Drafts various retirement plans including 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), governmental and church plans, traditional pensions, and cash balance plans
Represents ESOP plan sponsors, fiduciaries, bank lenders and trustees; drafted plans and handled fiduciary issues and compliance matters
Negotiation of service contracts for health/ fringe plans, addressing addressed COBRA/ continuation rights, ACA (compliance-reporting issues; responses to 226-J ESRP letters); ADA/ADEA benefits issues; 125 plan drafting, compliance; HIPAA compliance
Designs executive and deferred compensation plans
Handles various M&A due diligence matters pertaining to benefits