Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer is the Co-Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight's New York office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Wage and Hour Practice Group. Throughout his career, Michael's practice has focused on the representation of individuals in complex and class litigations, including wage and hour class actions, employment discrimination cases, and False Claims Act and anti-kickback cases.

Michael was one of the lead trial attorneys in Abrishamcar v. Oracle, a California Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") action which sought civil penalties for the violation of state laws governing commission agreements and the timely and full payment of commissions. Following the first and second phases of the trial, the Court issued decisions finding Oracle liable for violating the California Labor Code. In May 2025, the Court approved a $15.5 million settlement, concluding the decade-long complex PAGA litigation.

In another long-running wage and hour litigation, Michael headed up an overtime class action against telecom company Alaska Communications Systems (“ACS”), in which it was alleged that ACS misclassified sales employees as exempt from overtime pay under state and federal law. Michael won certification of a class of current and former sales employees and defeated ACS’s attempt to overturn the decision in the Ninth Circuit. After more than nine years of litigation, the parties agreed to settle the multi-million dollar class action in 2021.

Also in 2021, Michael obtained a settlement of more than $12 million in a False Claims Act case litigated against Roche Diagnostics and Humana, which administers Medicare Advantage plans, on behalf of a whistleblower who alleged that the defendants engaged in a kickback scheme.

In 2017, Michael litigated a wage and hour case against Google, Inc. on behalf of contract recruiters who alleged that they were denied overtime pay, culminating in a $5.5 million class settlement.

Also in 2017, Michael represented a class of female pharmaceutical sales representatives who alleged that they were paid and promoted less than their male counterparts. The case against Forest Laboratories resulted in $4 million class settlement.

Since graduating from the New York University School of Law in 2004, Michael has devoted his legal career to representing employees and public interest law—recovering millions of dollars for his clients and fighting for individuals’ rights. Michael has been selected multiple times to the New York Metro Super Lawyers list and has been recognized by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers.