As the legal landscape continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, staying ahead of the curve has never been more critical for lawyers and their clients. Further to our ongoing commitment to providing unparalleled legal intelligence, in this latest installment of our Editor’s Edge series we sit down with Kevin Leary MA, senior legal editor, to discuss his primary area of responsibility, Employment Law.
What does your role as a legal editor at Thomson Reuters entail?
As a Senior Legal Editor in the New Zealand Analytical Law team, I’ve been editing books (bound, looseleaf and online), articles and/or precedents for more than 20 years. A particular highlight has been two editorial stints (2009–2013 and 2023 onwards) with Employment Law (online, ebook, looseleaf), which will be celebrating its 35th anniversary next year (including its first 10 years under the name Brookers Employment Contracts).
What does editorial work with Employment Law entail?
Trying the patience of the author team (Phil Bartlett, Kylie Dunn, Chief Judge Inglis, AJ Lodge, Scott Worthy) with an endless stream of emails about the next manuscript-due dates, and this legislative development here, and that far-flung corner of commentary there … .
Trying to keep up with the authors when they deliver! (Editing manuscript for New Zealand Law Style Guide compliance, converting it from Word to XML, requesting then checking the updated output in online/ebook/looseleaf formats, updating the What’s New page (online/ebook) and Bulletin (looseleaf).)
Flagging updates of Employment Law in Alert 24 on Westlaw New Zealand.
Looking for ways to improve Employment Law — for example, introducing a new section called Pending and Proposed Employment Legislation Changes in 2023, and a new online/ebook chapter called Judicial Papers and Speeches in 2025.
What does Employment Law on Westlaw New Zealand cover?
The Employment Relations Act 2000 and regulations (of course), with extensive annotated commentary.
Legislation and commentary on other core employment topics (such as equal pay, health and safety at work, holidays, minimum wages, parental leave, protected disclosures, public service, wages protection).
Commentary on special employment topics (including topics like police employment, common law).
Supplementary material (practice notes, conventions, codes, judicial papers and speeches, author editorials, a glossary of employment terms).
Links to full-text employment cases, Bills and historical legislation on the wider Westlaw New Zealand platform.
What are some of the key developments currently shaping employment law? And what is coming down the track?
This area of law is particularly fast-changing at present. Recent amendments include:
- The Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Act 2025 (in force on 27 August 2025) introduced a new type of personal grievance claim (adverse conduct for a remuneration disclosure reason).
- The Employment Relations (Pay Deductions for Partial Strikes) Amendment Act 2025 (in force on 1 July 2025) reinstated the 2015–2018 regime of pay deductions for partial strikes.
- The Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 (in force on 14 May 2025) rewrote the pay equity claims process under the Equal Pay Act 1972.
- The Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Act 2025 made changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 and Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 on 30 March 2025, and to the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 on 1 July 2025.
Further changes (currently in Bills before Parliament) include:
- The Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2025 (a Government Bill) proposes amendments in several key areas of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (determining employment status, terms/conditions of new employees, personal grievances).
- The Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill 2024 (a Member’s Bill) would allow for protected negotiations to occur between an employer and employee to terminate the employee’s contract.
- Other Government Bills with employment-related implications include the Public Service Amendment Bill 2025, the Defence (Workforce) Amendment Bill 2025 and the Statutes Amendment Bill 2024.
Other (pre-Bill) reform proposals include:
- Holidays Act 2003: officials were directed in late 2024 to change the proposed direction of reform (started in 2018) and begin work on an hours-based accrual model for annual leave.
- Workplace health and safety: a wide range of proposed reforms have been announced throughout 2024–2025.
Besides all this, other topical issues in employment law include:
- Access/barriers to justice and representation/self-representation issues (being particular concerns in recent judicial papers and speeches).
- AI/algorithm issues (evidence/submissions, name suppression, privacy).
- The “Uber driver” litigation (awaiting a Supreme Court decision) and other “gig economy” cases.
In short, there is heaps going on!
How does Employment Law on Westlaw New Zealand provide current, comprehensive and accurate legal information on Employment Law?
First and foremost is the very approachable, helpful and hard-working author team of respected employment law experts.
Additionally, in-house teams working across different content types (legislation, cases, commentary) enable simultaneous (not consecutive) updating to better keep up with all the latest developments.
Unlike the looseleaf format (the logistics of which limit the number of updates that can be published each year), Westlaw New Zealand can update daily, so new Employment Law content can go live online much faster.
With no physical binder restraints, Employment Law on Westlaw New Zealand can easily expand to include new types of content (e.g. Judicial Papers and Speeches), while at the same time retaining repealed content for historical reference (e.g. COVID-19, fair pay agreements).
Future law is also included: Pending and Proposed Employment Legislation Changes provides an overview of what is or might be changing; and once definitive (i.e. assented or promulgated but not yet in force), future amendments are displayed with the current legislation on Westlaw New Zealand.
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
As mentioned earlier, working on Employment Law has been a highlight for me. The field of employment law is an important, multi-faceted and fascinating part of the legal landscape in New Zealand, and one that at times (like now) can change rapidly and significantly. To be involved – along with many others behind the scenes at Thomson Reuters – in always striving to make Employment Law a leading source of current law is both challenging and thrilling. And it’s a privilege to interact with authors who are such experts in the field and so good at communicating their expertise in commentary.
Employment Law’s expert author team
Philip Bartlett (formerly of Bartlett Partners)
Kylie Dunn (Partner, Smith Dunn)
Christina Inglis (Chief Judge, Employment Court of New Zealand)
Ashley-Jayne (AJ) Lodge (Partner, Anderson Lloyd)
Scott Worthy (Executive Partner, Kiely Thompson Caisley)
Thank you to Kevin Leary, senior legal editor and his team of expert authors in employment. As a legal professional, if you are in need of the most up-to-date and trusted employment legal content in New Zealand, look no further than the Employment Practice Area on Westlaw New Zealand.
Other articles in The Expert’s Edge series: Current Civil Litigation insights
