Matthew Dearing
LLB, LLM
SENIOR ASSOCIATE
Matthew Dearing joins us from Wilson Group’s FIRST Security & Wilson Parking where he was Employment Relations Legal Counsel for New Zealand. Matt was previously the Head of Legal – General Counsel for the EMA.
Matt graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Laws in 2004, was admitted to the Bar in 2005 and then completed a Master of Laws at Victoria University of Wellington in 2010. He is an AMINZ-qualified mediator and been a sitting member of The Law Association’s Employment Law Committee for the past 12 years.
Matt has extensive experience in providing employment law advice to a range of clients from large multinationals to small business, and employees. He routinely advises clients on a range of matters, including:
- Restructuring, performance management and medical incapacity;
- Drafting and reviewing employment documentation such as employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, policies, and bonding agreements;
- Workplace Investigations;
- Attending and advising on more contentious issues, such as personal grievances, mediation, disciplinary and performance matters, exit negotiations, the enforceability of restraints of trade, and Privacy Act information requests;
- Labour Inspectorate (investigations and audits);
- Union issues, such as collective bargaining (strategy development and negotiations), strikes and lockouts; and
- Representing clients in mediation, the Employment Relations Authority, the Human Rights Review Tribunal, and the Employment Court.
Matthew's career highlights, including the following recent cases:
2024-NZERA 478 – Successfully opposing an application for interim reinstatement, with the Employment Relations Authority finding that the balance of convenience and overall justice of the case did not favour reinstatement pending determination of the employee’s personal grievance.
2019-NZERA 498 – Successfully defending an application for penalties, with the Employment Relations Authority finding that the alleged breaches of union freedom and good faith obligations had not been established.
2019-NZERA 158 – Successfully establishing that an employer’s statutory obligation to make a mandatory report to the Education Council did not breach a mediated settlement agreement, with the Authority confirming that the reporting process operated independently of the employment relationship dispute.
2016-EmpC 129 – Successfully establishing that a mediated full and final settlement prevented an employee from pursuing subsequent claims for wage arrears, with the Employment Court confirming that all claims arising from the employment relationship had been compromised by the settlement agreement.
2016-NZERA Wellington 47 – Successfully establishing that a mediated full and final settlement, together with statutory limitation periods, prevented an employee from pursuing a later claim for minimum wage arrears arising from sleepover work
2015-NZERA Auckland 381 – Successfully resisting an application for interim reinstatement brought by a dismissed bus driver, with the Employment Relations Authority finding that the employer faced significant operational risks if reinstatement was ordered before the substantive claims were determined.
2015-NZERA Auckland 268 – Successfully establishing the correct approach to calculating annual leave payments under a mediated settlement agreement, with the Employment Relations Authority finding that the employer had complied with its obligations regarding salary and holiday pay entitlements
