Megan Ruddle signed a non-disclosure agreement after reaching a confidential settlement over an employment dispute after working for Sir Rod Drury on his luxury boat and then at his Queenstown property, Stuff has reported. Photo / Facebook
The former private chef of Sir Rod Drury has become the third woman to allege the New Zealander of the Year made unwanted advances towards her – claiming he repeatedly kissed her on the lips while she worked for him.
Megan Ruddle signed a non-disclosure agreement after reaching a confidential settlement over an employment dispute after working for Drury on his luxury boat and then at his Queenstown property, Stuff has reported.
Drury has confirmed her employment was terminated and a settlement was reached.
However, Ruddle has decided to speak out against her former boss after he was knighted and awarded New Zealander of the Year – awards that she “just didn’t think he deserved”.
“It didn’t paint the right picture of the character that he has. I felt that New Zealand deserved to know the real Rod Drury,” Ruddle told Stuff.
Drury has denied the allegations, saying Ruddle’s claims “are not supported by the facts”.
“At no time was there any form of intimate or physical relationship, nor did I ever try to initiate one,” he told the Herald.
Her confidential settlement followed a personal grievance complaint Ruddle made against Drury and his company Oto60 in 2025, Stuff reports.
“I never wanted to settle and sign an agreement in the first place,” she said.
“I think it’s in the best interests of people knowing what actually happened. I don’t think that [this] should be able to legally be covered up by an agreement.”
In this agreement, Drury and his company do not make any admission of liability, Stuff reports.
Last month, Ruddle also made a police complaint and has been interviewed.
In the latest allegations, Drury’s chef claimed he kissed her on the lips in a meeting shortly after she was hired as a chef on his yacht.
Drury told Ruddle they were going out to dinner after flying to Wellington to meet him.
“I thought it was going to be me being introduced to some more people, but it was just him. He came to pick me up from my hotel, and he kissed me on the lips,” Ruddle told Stuff.
Following this, Ruddle alleges Drury kissed her on the lips every time he greeted her.
She worked for the founder and former chief executive of Xero from 2023 up until late 2025, moving from his boat to become a residence director and chef at his Queenstown retreat.
Ruddle told Stuff it was “so obvious that I didn’t want” to be kissed on the lips by Drury and “I would try to avoid it... I would never kiss back. I would be tense and rigid”.
She said that because she worked for him, on and off, for more than two years, Drury would have kissed her on the lips “easily over 50 times”. Stuff reported that former colleagues also claimed they witnessed Drury kissing Ruddle on the lips multiple times.
Drury told the Herald that Ruddle’s allegations are not correct.
“At no time was there any form of intimate or physical relationship, nor did I ever try to initiate one,” he said.
The Xero founder said he has contacted police in relation to the new claims as multiple people “with first-hand knowledge of the events have come forward with accounts that materially contradict Megan’s allegations”.
“We have also received information that, in the presence of multiple people, Megan spoke about her motivations for pursuing a claim. These individuals are willing to co-operate with any police investigation.”
In September 2025, Ruddle said she got into a text exchange with Drury about her employment in which Stuff says she told him his repeated kissing on the lips, as well as calling her “Hot chef Megan”, was despicable.
In a statement to the Herald, Drury said Ruddle’s employment was terminated “with immediate effect following concerns regarding her conduct”, but he did not say what that conduct was.
Ruddle subsequently made a legal complaint that Drury sexually harassed and unjustifiably dismissed her, Stuff reports.
Drury claimed she raised her “unfounded allegations” the day after her employment was terminated.
A settlement was then reached with a non-disclosure agreement, which also included outstanding money owed to Ruddle. It contained no admission of liability.
Drury told the Herald while he “stands by” Ruddle’s dismissal, he acknowledges proper employment processes weren’t followed.
“For that reason, a settlement was reached in relation to her employment claim,” he said. “That settlement included mutual confidentiality obligations, in part to protect her ability to seek future employment”.
Ruddle left New Zealand after this settlement.
The fresh allegations from Ruddle come after two other women have alleged Drury made sexual advances while they were employees at Xero, the company Drury founded in 2005.
In April, ex-Xero employee Ally Naylor alleged Drury non-consensually kissed and groped her. Drury denied those accusations, claiming “any other relationships I had over that period were consensual and mutual”.
While Naylor said the behaviour began in 2015, it was formally reported to Xero in 2017. This led to an internal investigation, the findings of which have not been publicly released.
Naylor told the Herald she stands by her allegation there was “unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact”.
Xero later opened an external investigation after Naylor’s public complaint, with King’s Counsel Maria Dew leading the review.
Amy said Drury invited her to his apartment to discuss a job opportunity, but when she arrived, the meeting quickly turned inappropriate.
Another Xero employee, Tim, told the publication Amy had confided in him about the incident the next morning after he noticed “she looked a bit weepy”.
“Amy is a pretty robust person. She’s not someone prone to exaggeration or undue stress,” he said.
A representative for Drury did not want to comment regarding this complaint.
A spokesperson for Xero last week said “the current board and leadership are committed to fully understanding and evaluating the events and Xero’s response with expert assistance”.
When asked if Dew’s inquiry would address the second allegations from Amy, the spokesperson said “additional matters” could be considered if they were “relevant”.
“The review will consider Xero’s handling of the 2017 complaint, and the related decision-making processes,” they said.
“The reviewer has the ability to interview any parties she considers relevant, and to consider any additional matters that arise during the course of the review.”
Xero said it would not be appropriate to comment further as the review is ongoing.
Anyone with relevant information can confidentially get in contact through the email review@xero.com.
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