Mathew Reiman
Mathew is an employment lawyer focusing on employment and industrial relations disputes.
Mathew’s experience across a broad range of employment and industrial relations law matters position him as an expert and trusted advisor in navigating and minimising the significant impact of uncertainty arising from employment and industrial relations matters in your business.
Mathew has extensive experience acting for clients across numerous industries including manufacturing, education, energy, and food manufacturing. His familiarity with working with businesses of all sizes, including small, medium, large, national, and international businesses, means he is well positioned to address employment and industrial relations challenges irrespective of the size, significance, and impact of the relevant problem within a business. Mathew’s ability to quickly and efficiently familiarise himself with the nature and operations of diverse businesses means he can tackle challenging matters and provide tailored and considered advice for your business.
Mathew is a passionate advocate for clients in value-oriented disputes with employees, always seeking to achieve commercially sound outcomes which avoid costly and unnecessary disputation where possible.
Background
Mathew has a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Economics) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne. Mathew was admitted to practice in 2017. Mathew is admitted to practice as a solicitor of the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia, and the Supreme Court of Australia.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- A large electricity supply and transmission client in relation to management of the impacts of protected industrial action including successfully obtaining orders from the Fair Work Commission where the action was threatening the health and safety of third parties.
- A large food warehousing and supply chain client in relation to a challenging industrial dispute involving its employees, a union, and a broader union campaign against the client’s customers, including navigating a resolution to the bargaining and assisting with management of protected and unprotected industrial action which was preventing lawful operations.
- A large biomedical manufacturer client in relation to obstructive picketing at its site during bargaining including assisting with the bargaining “exit” strategy and managing legal action available to navigate the obstructive picketing.
- A large resource industry client in relation to navigating a protracted period of bargaining to resolution and pursuing an intractable bargaining declaration in the Fair Work Commission.
- A large multinational manufacturing client in a dispute against its former CEO and CFO, as well as its external auditors, in relation to allegations regarding irregularities in the statutory accounts
- A national manufacturing client in the development of a unique greenfields agreement strategy to lawfully exclude an uncooperative union by creatively interpreting competing union rules
- A national bus and truck retail and repair services business in the development of a successful industrial strategy to repair damaged relations arising from actions taken by both parties in the early stages of the pandemic
- A mid-sized air conditioning installation business, implementing a successful strategy to lawfully exclude an uncooperative union from a renegotiated enterprise agreement
- A large private school employer in relation to a dispute with an employee parent regarding the interpretation of fee remission arrangements contained within conflicting enrolment and employment agreements
