[1] He was dismissed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern from Cabinet on 22 July 2020 after an affair with a staff member over a period of 12 months.

[17] As his party's spokesperson for Workplace Relations, Lees-Galloway was a leading voice alongside trade unions in the campaign to eliminate zero-hour contracts in New Zealand.

In 2016, after a year and a half long campaign that involved tens of thousands of New Zealanders, industrial action by union members, parliamentary negotiations, agreements were made with the National government.

[20] During the 2017 election, Lees-Galloway was re-elected in Palmerston North, defeating the National Party's candidate Adrienne Pierce by 6,392 votes.

[22][23] Because Lees-Galloway had both Workplace Relations and Immigration, both areas where Labour and New Zealand First had great differences of opinion, he had a tough job within the coalition.

"[24] On 20 July 2018, Lees-Galloway in his capacity as Immigration Minister granted visas for the Canadian alt right activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux to visit New Zealand for a speaking tour in August 2018.

While Lees-Galloway described Southern and Molyneux's views as counter to the "kind and tolerant values" of the vast majority of New Zealanders, he cleared their visas on the grounds that they had fulfilled immigration character requirements including not having been convicted of a crime or previously barred from Australia and the United Kingdom.

The case also attracted considerable media interest in New Zealand and led the Czech government to seek Sroubek's extradition.

[28][29] In December 2018, Lees-Galloway attributed his decision to Immigration New Zealand's failure to provide information on Sroubek's criminal activities in the Czech Republic.

[30] On 22 July 2020 Lees-Galloway was dismissed from his immigration, workplace relations and ACC ministerial portfolios by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after admitting an inappropriate but consensual relationship with a person working in one of his agencies.

Prime Minister Ardern dismissed Lees-Galloway after receiving information from Opposition Leader Judith Collins, stating that she had lost confidence in him for "improperly using his position of power."

[35][36] On 29 September 2020, Lees-Galloway was granted retention of the title "The Honourable" for life, in recognition of his term as a member of the Executive Council.