Company frames worker's messages during restructuring as abusive; labour board argues it was expression of real concerns
Australian-based software firm Atlassian is facing allegations before a US labour authority that it illegally dismissed an engineer who criticized the chief executive during a tense restructuring, according to a court transcript obtained by Bloomberg.
The case centres on US-based engineer Denise Unterwurzacher, who repeatedly questioned a 2023 reorganisation that involved job losses and title changes.
The dispute arose during a company-wide “ask me anything” video call with senior executives, including now-CEO Mike Cannon‑Brookes.
According to testimony from a US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lawyer, employees reacted badly to how leadership handled pushback in the live chat.
One attorney told the judge that, “Employees disagreed in the chat, which resulted in Cannon-Brookes angrily interjecting to tell off the people who were complaining,” during the meeting.
After the call, frustration reportedly spilled over onto an internal Slack channel named “Outrage Notification.” From there, the tone sharpened. In one widely cited message, Unterwurzacher wrote: “What's up Outragers, just dialling in from my NBA team's headquarters to yell at the people whose careers I've just pummelled,” referring to Cannon‑Brookes’ basketball team ownership and the job cuts.
Unterwurzacher was terminated a few days...
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