Pexels/Reddit

Some workplace policies drift so slowly you barely notice them shifting, until suddenly they land directly on your doorstep with an actual deadline attached.

That’s exactly what happened to one remote employee who’d been repeatedly excluded from her company’s return-to-office expansion, only to be blindsided with an order to begin relocating to a new state or risk losing her job.

She’s spent this entire time working from home without taking much leave, all while caring for a terminally ill parent whose situation has been steadily worsening.

Now she’s feeling utterly hopeless that things will work out for her.

Keep reading for the full story.

Getting Laid off because I can’t relocate.

So I work for an organization that the staff is primarily remote employees. They announced a return to office a few years ago but were clear it would only impact specific roles.

But soon, the scope expanded.

Starting last year they expanded the people it would impact, but even then I was told I was not in this list.

During this time I have worked from home, don’t take much time off sick or otherwise despite caring for a terminally ill parent.

Caring for this parent took a lot of this employee’s time and attention.

For context, this is a parent that due to choices they made cannot afford to live alone, is just above the line to qualify for Medicaid, and is on a sharp downward trend with their illness.

So when her company forced him to relocate, it put her in an impossible position.

I was informed earlier this month that I had until the end of the month to start the process to relocate to a different state, or they would consider it a voluntary resignation and job abandonment.

I have filled out an ADA request for this and a few other items, and they are dragging their feet.

I am mostly posting this because things like this have become normal, and it makes me feel like I would be better off not participating in this kind of world anymore.

Could this company get any worse?

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

There’s a lot more to a RTO mandate than companies ever let on.

This employee needs to make one thing clear to his employer.

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What company in their right mind would expect their employee to practically carry out their own firing?

Years of reassurance pretty much mean jack squat if a company can reverse course with almost no warning and a hard deadline attached.

The timing matters here too, since this is landing squarely on someone caring for a terminally ill parent with real financial constraints, not just an abstract inconvenience.

It’s hard to understand how a company could be so heartless.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.