A US administrative labor law judge judge found that software maker Atlassian had illegally fired an engineer after she pushed back against manager layoffs and other policy changes.
> The ruling found that the engineer, Denise Unterwurzacher, had a federally backed right to make such comments because she made them as part of a collective effort to aid or protect co-workers.
> The judge ordered the company to reinstate Ms. Unterwurzacher to her former job or an equivalent position, and to make her whole financially. It is one of the most significant outcomes in years in a case involving the labor rights of a tech worker.
Atlassian said it planned to appeal the ruling, however.
In these cases where they have to rehire someone, does the employee usually stay after? Wouldn't the workplace be kinda hostile now with the manager who fired you?
In this particular case I'd argue that the workplace is indeed going to be very hostile, and appropriate reparations here would not be to rehire, but a fat compensation package for unfair dismissal.
Many worker relations ombuds around the world has procedures for exactly this scenario.
Hell, I reckon the majority of 'illegal' firings does not result in rehiring the injured party.
> The company terminated her in June 2023 after two more incidents, including a sarcastic allusion to an Atlassian founder’s partial ownership of the Utah Jazz basketball team. “Just dialling in from my NBA team’s headquarters to yell at the people whose careers I’ve just pummelled,” she wrote.
Yeah this comment seems rude and without much substantive value. I would not want someone with this attitude and sense of decorum to work at my company, regardless of whether I believed in the causes that they advocated for. It's just a cheap shot, and not especially funny or insightful.
The company claims they had rules against this type of comment, and that's why she was fired:
> Atlassian argued that it had fired Ms. Unterwurzacher for violating company rules that require employees to behave civilly and avoid ad hominem attacks against one another.
Seems like a case like this could be overturned on appeal, if what they say is true. Also depends on what else she said, which the article doesn't mention.
Atlassian was extremely foolish. Obviously you want to fire someone who makes unprofessional comments like that on the company Slack, but you don't explicitly fire them for that, you find some other defensible reason to do it.
I got downvoted for posing the possibility that the atlassian ceo actually is a ‘rich jerk’ and that his retaliation towards this employee was evidence of the statement itself.
I guess I’ve been vindicated. I’ll be accepting apologies.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 30.2 ms ] thread> The ruling found that the engineer, Denise Unterwurzacher, had a federally backed right to make such comments because she made them as part of a collective effort to aid or protect co-workers.
> The judge ordered the company to reinstate Ms. Unterwurzacher to her former job or an equivalent position, and to make her whole financially. It is one of the most significant outcomes in years in a case involving the labor rights of a tech worker.
Atlassian said it planned to appeal the ruling, however.
Many worker relations ombuds around the world has procedures for exactly this scenario.
Hell, I reckon the majority of 'illegal' firings does not result in rehiring the injured party.
Yeah this comment seems rude and without much substantive value. I would not want someone with this attitude and sense of decorum to work at my company, regardless of whether I believed in the causes that they advocated for. It's just a cheap shot, and not especially funny or insightful.
The company claims they had rules against this type of comment, and that's why she was fired:
> Atlassian argued that it had fired Ms. Unterwurzacher for violating company rules that require employees to behave civilly and avoid ad hominem attacks against one another.
Seems like a case like this could be overturned on appeal, if what they say is true. Also depends on what else she said, which the article doesn't mention.
I guess I’ve been vindicated. I’ll be accepting apologies.