AI and privacy issues are rapidly reshaping the modern workplace, creating both opportunities and significant legal risks for employers. From AI-assisted employment decisions and employee use of generative AI tools to the collection, storage and use of employee information, organisations must balance innovation with compliance, fairness and accountability. This practical two-part seminar will explore the employment, privacy and governance challenges arising from emerging technologies, providing actionable guidance on managing risk while embracing technological change. Delegates will gain practical strategies for developing effective policies, implementing appropriate safeguards and navigating the legal issues that accompany AI and data-driven workplaces.
Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Description
Attend and earn 2 CPD hours
12.00pm to 1.00pm Workplace AI in Practice: Managing Employment Decisions and Employee Use of AI
- Key legal considerations when implementing AI in the workplace, with a focus on privacy obligations, discrimination risks, and the importance of transparency in automated decision-making processes
- Practical insights into the use of generative AI in employment disputes, including evidential challenges and procedural considerations
- Examination of recent case law and lessons learned from disputes involving generative AI
Presented by Rosemary Wooders, Partner, Bell Gully; Doyle's Guide Leading Employment Lawyer, New Zealand 2025
Learning Objectives:
- Recognise the key employment, privacy and data protection risks associated with the increasing use of AI and emerging technologies in the workplace.
- Assess the legal and practical considerations involved in using AI-assisted tools for employment decision-making and managing employee use of generative AI.
- Identify privacy obligations relating to the collection, use, storage and disclosure of employee information throughout the employment lifecycle.
- Apply practical governance, policy and risk management strategies to support the responsible adoption of AI and workplace technologies while maintaining legal compliance.
1.00pm to 2.00pm Privacy and Data Protection in the Workplace: Managing Risk, including AI
- The proliferation of AI has led to significant new risk to the security of employee and company information
- Aotearoa is also taking privacy far more seriously and a new penalty regime has been proposed under the Privacy Act 2020, including prospective penalties for directors of up to $500,000 in relation to cybersecurity failures
- Employers need to urgently take steps to address these risks. The webinar will cover:
- Practical steps to protect employee and company information from both inadvertent disclosure and more nefarious cyber-attacks;
- How to develop effective Data Breach Response Plans; and
- How to respond to a data breach in a way that complies with the Privacy Act 2020 and other associated legal requirements
Presented by Joseph Harrop, Special Counsel, Lane Neave
Chair:
Kirsti Laird, Special Counsel, Wynn Williams
Presenters
Kirsti Laird, Special Counsel, Wynn Williams
As a special counsel in our employment team, Kirsti has over 20 years of experience advising on all aspects of employment law. She regularly advises both employers and employees in relation to all aspects of employment relationships, including performance and conduct issues, personal grievances and other disputes, restructuring, whistleblowing and human rights, restraints of trade and negotiated exits. Building upon her many years in practice in the UK, Kirsti has specialist experience in privacy law and the employment aspects of corporate transactions, including the transfer of vulnerable employees. Kirsti’s clients value her strategic and practical advice designed to find solutions to problems that arise in workplaces.
Rosemary Wooders, Partner, Bell Gully
Rosemary is an experienced employment lawyer and provides advice to clients across a wide range of industries as part of Bell Gully’s employment team in Auckland. Rosemary has worked as an employment lawyer in New Zealand and London. She advises employers and senior executives on a wide variety of transactional, contentious and advisory employment matters including personal grievances and disputes, collective bargaining matters, restraints of trade, team move matters, absence management, redundancy and performance issues, and negotiated exits. She also advises on health and safety and privacy matters.
Joseph Harrop, Special Counsel, Lane Neave
Joseph specialises in Employment and Privacy Law, along with Health and Safety. He is particularly focused on the intersection of these areas with the emerging risks and opportunities presented by AI. In the privacy and data sphere, Joseph helps businesses and organisations develop AI-Use, Privacy, and Data Breach Response Plans and manage AI use within the workplace. He assists with implementation of plans, including trial-runs and education. In the event of a data breach, Joseph has the expertise to guide organisations calmly through their obligations under a variety of different intersecting laws. He also connects organisations to cybersecurity experts for a wrap-around service. Joseph has considerable litigation experience and can assist with further steps, such as obtaining injunctions to limit further unwanted disclosure in the event of a breach.
