But employment in Australia is not at-will, so regardless of their obligations to pay out the notice period they also need to have a valid reason for the dismissal.
Specifically John Cramb (the Australian) was presenting alongside Josh Schwartz the director of offensive security. It seems that one could reasonably establish that John was acting under the directions of his superior, and that would mean that the default position would be to assume that his actions were sanctioned by the company unless they can prove that he knew otherwise.
And even then, they would be expected to provide a written warning, or justify why the violation was so extreme to justify immediate termination (which would be very difficult given he was active under the instructions of a superior).
Base on the limited evidence we have, it seems that Salesforce has unfairly dismissed John, and that the Californian executive ought to have consulted with an Australian HR lawyer before he acted.
I'm ignorant as far as Australian law. Is this true if the company is based in America and the worker is laboring either in America or remotely? It seems like at that point Australian law wouldn't directly apply to termination decisions.
Generally speaking, multinational companies will offer employment contracts through a local subsidiary. In that case the employment will fall under the laws of that country. And if they send you on an overseas business trip that doesn't change anything - even if the parent company is domiciled in that country.
If they don't have a local presence, and you're working remotely, then you're more likely to be a contractor and dismissal laws are pretty loose.
The interesting thing would be if they had a local subsidiary but chose to employ you on contract to the parent company. I suspect (but IANAL) that the Australian Fair Work Commission would determine that (if the contract was long term and indefinite) that you were actually an employee of the local subsidiary.
https://www.lawsociety.com.au/community/publicationsandfaqs/...
They might have one here, but I doubt it.
Specifically John Cramb (the Australian) was presenting alongside Josh Schwartz the director of offensive security. It seems that one could reasonably establish that John was acting under the directions of his superior, and that would mean that the default position would be to assume that his actions were sanctioned by the company unless they can prove that he knew otherwise.
And even then, they would be expected to provide a written warning, or justify why the violation was so extreme to justify immediate termination (which would be very difficult given he was active under the instructions of a superior).
Base on the limited evidence we have, it seems that Salesforce has unfairly dismissed John, and that the Californian executive ought to have consulted with an Australian HR lawyer before he acted.