Ex-staff of Australian tech giants reveal strict terms of departure in dismissal claims
Behind the friendly faces of Australia’s $70bn tech sector lies a web of strict rules that can strip departing staff of shares and force them into silence.
Australia’s biggest technology companies are facing fresh scrutiny over how they handle staff exits, as unfair dismissal filings reveal strict non-disparagement clauses, performance rankings and share-vesting rules imposed on departing workers.
Court documents obtained by The Australian show employees at the country’s most celebrated start-ups are asked to sign agreements promising not to criticise their former employers, while others risk losing lucrative stock options if they are not considered “good leavers”.
Canva
At online graphic design giant Canva, a termination letter signed by co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht, who signs off with “Cheers, Cliff” outlines a number of “obligations” employees who are sacked from the company are required to follow.
Canva, co-founded by billionaires Cameron Adams, Melanie Perkins and Mr Obrecht – who are worth a combined $17.68bn – sent such a letter to ex-Canva software engineer John Cox in July this year.
The letter was included in his unfair dismissal claim obtained by The Australian from the Federal Circuit Court.
“You continue to owe a number of ongoing obligations to Canva after your employment terminates, as set out in your Contract and the Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement,” the letter reads.
After promising to return company devices, all USBs, passwords, documents and copies of those documents, the letter asks Mr Cox to refrain from gossiping about the company.
“You won’t defame or disparage Canva (or any member of its group) or any of its (or their) current or former officers, employees or agents or otherwise make any statement which may be adverse to its or their reputation,” the letter states.
Mr Cox is also asked to sign a letter agreeing to these terms, as well as a number of points in a “termination certification”.
Inventions “conceived or made by me (solely or jointly with others)” covered by the company’s confidential information and invention assignment agreement are also captured by the company.
Mr Cox alleged he was placed on performance improvement plans, known as PIPs, throughout his employment between 2019 and July, and was informed by his “coach” (manager).
After the first PIP was implemented in about March 2024, Mr Cox says he received a “thriving” rating later that year. He alleges the structured performance improvement process is called a “growth and improvement cycle” internally.
After taking periods of parental, paid and personal leave, Mr Cox alleges he was also suffering poor mental health after a marriage breakdown and was seeing a psychologist. He said he was a primary carer to his children.
Mr Cox said Canva told him in June 2025 that it had not observed an improvement in his performance, and he was sacked the following day.
Mr Cox would like to be reinstated in his former job, or receive compensation. Canva was contacted for comment, but did not respond.
Atlassian
At Atlassian, software engineer Mav Peri – employed by Atlassian India – has claimed in court filings, obtained by The Australian, that he was unfairly dismissed shortly before the end of his six-month probation period after raising concerns about a program he was working on.
Mr Peri also alleges his complaints about his treatment at the hands of his manager were ignored.
“(Atlassian) instructed the applicant and others to align with the ‘official narrative’ about the system, despite the fact that there were no meaningful metrics or reports to substantiate these claims,” his court filings say.
Since its launch in 2002, the market capitalisation of the Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar-founded Atlassian has soared to $67bn.
The Nasdaq-listed software giant most recently reported a major round of redundancies in September, cutting a total of about 350 jobs globally, including due to artificial intelligence.
In Australia, about 44 positions were axed after the company reduced the number of workers needed to deal with manual user inquiries.
Current and former staff described a strict performance management system at the company, known as “APEX” – a stratified rating system.
One ex-staff member said in an online forum, Blind, that APEX had become a process used to “punish”. “I got the second-highest rating consistently until I was punished for speaking out about changes, so got pushed to the second lowest,” they said.
Mr Peri is seeking compensation, after alleging he was promised an award of restricted stock units under the Atlassian share incentive plan “equivalent in value at the time of grant to $US700,000.00” but missed out after he was sacked.
Atlassian has rejected Mr Peri’s claims, and in their response said it was within their rights to terminate employment if the employee did not pass probation.
In their response, Atlassian said Mr Peri was receiving feedback in weekly “1:1” meetings and “matters raised in the termination had previously been canvassed with the applicant at length, and he had received warnings about dissatisfaction with his performance and interpersonal issues with members of his team”.
SafetyCulture
At $2.5bn workplace software giant SafetyCulture, in a now finalised matter, former managing director Francis Costigan alleged he was terminated in January 2024, when the company decided to “abolish Mr Costigan’s duties and responsibilities in respect of establishing SafetyCulture’s business operations in the United States”.
He claimed in 2022, he was invited to join the employee share program, and was ultimately issued 1.7 million shares at 46c each to vest at various times.
Mr Costigan alleged the “express terms” of the program’s rules declared Mr Costigan would be a “good leaver” if (among other things) he ceased to be an employee of SafetyCulture and was not a “bad leaver”.
He was considered a “good leaver” when he left, and made a 2c profit on each vested share the company transferred back to him.
Mr Costigan alleged he was sacked with three months’ notice, and claimed he suffered economic loss arising from the loss of an additional three months (at least) of further employment until about April 18, 2024.
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