Employee Benefits Attorney Joins Butzel
DETROIT, Mich. – Michelle (Mickey) Bartlett recently joined Butzel as a senior attorney in the firm’s Detroit office. She is a member of Butzel’s Employee Benefits and ERISA team, and Labor and Employment Practice Department.
Bartlett has a unique background in employee benefits in legal, human resources, and labor sectors. She brings experience in all facets essential to employee benefits, resulting in clear, practical guidance for clients. Her approach aligns employee benefits with business priorities and helps mitigate risk for private, public, nonprofit, and governmental organizations.
Her experience includes collaborating with executive leadership, regulators, labor organizations, and cross-functional teams. For more than two decades, she has managed, negotiated, and provided counsel on large-scale retirement (tax-qualified and non-qualified), health and welfare, cafeteria and consumer-driven plans, fringe benefits, salary continuation, and disability and life insurance plans as well as other policies and plans. Clients rely on Bartlett for strategic counsel on Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Internal Revenue Code (IRC), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Affordable Care Act (ACA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
Bartlett’s practical experience allows her to anticipate challenges, understand operational constraints, and deliver solutions that are compliant and pragmatic while considering cost and budget restraints.
She drafts plan documents, summary plan descriptions, and a wide range of employee benefit policies, programs, and communications. She researches regulatory matters, offers practical guidance, recommends and prepares employee benefit corrections, and interacts directly with regulatory authorities. Bartlett reviews and negotiates third-party administrative service agreements; provides strategic advice on issues arising in corporate transactions, conducts due diligence, and prepares employee benefit sections for transactional agreements. She also prepares government filings.
Prior to joining Butzel, Bartlett held a senior legal position managing the Health and Welfare Section of an ERISA boutique firm. She also occupied senior human resources leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies in the automotive industry, where she oversaw US and global benefits strategy, design, compliance, benchmarking, and administration. In addition, she was responsible for the employee benefit aspects of national and local labor negotiations, as well as large-scale acquisitions and divestitures.
Bartlett has served U.S. and multi-national employers across a wide range of industries including manufacturing, automotive, and health care. Her broad employee benefits background allows her to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical solutions that work in real‑world operations. She helps clients move forward with confidence while protecting organizations from financial and compliance risk.
She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Taxation Section and formerly served as Chair of the Employee Benefits Section.
Bartlett serves her community on the Grosse Ile Township Board of Trustees. She is a past Executive Board Member of the Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy and former Board Member of the Grosse Ile Planning Commission.
