Fired Over a Slack Joke — NLRB ALJ Said That’s Illegal

Atlassian is a non-union tech company. It just got hammered under the federal National Labor Relations Act, anyway.

A software engineer spent years griping on internal message boards — about job titles, a new stack-ranking review system, and layoffs. Her last post was a sarcastic jab at the co-CEO in a Slack channel literally named “Outrage Notifications.” Atlassian fired her for violating its community guidelines.

An NLRB judge just ordered her reinstated with back pay. Complaints about working conditions are protected concerted activity — even sarcastic ones, even with zero union in the building. A civility policy has not been a defense for a few years (thanks to the Biden Board).

The judge went further and struck down Atlassian’s severance confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses. The violation happened the moment Atlassian offered the agreement. (again, thanks to the Biden Board).

Two things every employer should hear. One: your handbook and severance templates are labor-law exposure right now, union or not. Two: this is an ALJ ruling built on Biden-era precedent. I expect Trump’s NLRB will restore the law to the pre-Biden parameters.

Could this be the case the NLRB uses to overturn Stericycle and McLaren Macomb?

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