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Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

entrepreneur.com

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Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#21

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

ako wrote: post #19
guywithahat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also not a lawyer, but wouldn't getting fired for not showing up to work be for-cause, thus excluding you from unemployment benefits? My understanding (which isn't clarified in the article) is these employees weren't hired to be remove, they were hired at an office.

Changing working location could be a contract change, and (at least in the netherlands), employees cant be forced to accept contract changes or resign.

Even in the USA, changing work location seems like constructive dismissal.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#22

Post by quectophoton »

fathomdeez wrote: post #4

Why do these companies keep trying to fire remote employees? Is it so hard to let them keep working from home? Is the company's real estate portfolio that important? You could probably even pay remote workers less (or give non-remote employees a "bonus" for coming in) and everyone would still be happy.

Look at it from the companies' point of view:

- Human contact is more important than efficiency gains, hence mandating return-to-office.

- At the same time, efficiency gains are more important than human contact, hence reducing human headcount in favor of increased AI use.

If you read between the lines, you can see how those two points are related: humans find difficult to feel connected when their communication partner is just pixels on a screen, so that's why remote workers are being replaced with AI.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#23

Post by jleyank »

As I’ve written in the past, companies that tolerate or even encourage WFH will have advantages when it comes to hiring (or retaining) older workers or workers with professional partners. If young bodies are what’s desired, yeah, do the cattle call. If skill and experience matters or there’s any talent availability issues they’re limiting their hiring pool.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#25

Post by toomuchtodo »

guywithahat wrote: post #16
csense wrote: post #5

The following is not legal advice, it's just my opinion. DYOR, check with a lawyer, etc. "Do you want to relocate or resign?" is a false dichotomy. You can always just refuse to answer (possibly with soft words like ""I'm not sure" or "I haven't decided yet") -- keep doing your job, and wait until the company lets you go. I'm pretty sure, if a company moves its operations and your job no longer exists in the same loc…

I'm also not a lawyer, but wouldn't getting fired for not showing up to work be for-cause, thus excluding you from unemployment benefits? My understanding (which isn't clarified in the article) is these employees weren't hired to be remove, they were hired at an office.

Even in the land of the torment nexus, workers have some protections against unilateral changes to their working arrangements.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#26

Post by [deleted] »

guywithahat wrote: post #16
csense wrote: post #5

The following is not legal advice, it's just my opinion. DYOR, check with a lawyer, etc. "Do you want to relocate or resign?" is a false dichotomy. You can always just refuse to answer (possibly with soft words like ""I'm not sure" or "I haven't decided yet") -- keep doing your job, and wait until the company lets you go. I'm pretty sure, if a company moves its operations and your job no longer exists in the same loc…

I'm also not a lawyer, but wouldn't getting fired for not showing up to work be for-cause, thus excluding you from unemployment benefits? My understanding (which isn't clarified in the article) is these employees weren't hired to be remove, they were hired at an office.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#27

Post by ecshafer »

csense wrote: post #5

The following is not legal advice, it's just my opinion. DYOR, check with a lawyer, etc. "Do you want to relocate or resign?" is a false dichotomy. You can always just refuse to answer (possibly with soft words like ""I'm not sure" or "I haven't decided yet") -- keep doing your job, and wait until the company lets you go. I'm pretty sure, if a company moves its operations and your job no longer exists in the same loc…

Unemployment benefits are not that good. You are better off not answering, then coming down to it, say YES I will move. And spend that 90 days looking for a new job.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#28

Post by [deleted] »

quectophoton wrote: post #22
fathomdeez wrote: post #4

Why do these companies keep trying to fire remote employees? Is it so hard to let them keep working from home? Is the company's real estate portfolio that important? You could probably even pay remote workers less (or give non-remote employees a "bonus" for coming in) and everyone would still be happy.

Look at it from the companies' point of view: - Human contact is more important than efficiency gains, hence mandating return-to-office. - At the same time, efficiency gains are more important than human contact, hence reducing human headcount in favor of increased AI use. If you read between the lines, you can see how those two points are related: humans find difficult to feel connected when their communication part…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#29

Post by devoutsalsa »

csense wrote: post #5

The following is not legal advice, it's just my opinion. DYOR, check with a lawyer, etc. "Do you want to relocate or resign?" is a false dichotomy. You can always just refuse to answer (possibly with soft words like ""I'm not sure" or "I haven't decided yet") -- keep doing your job, and wait until the company lets you go. I'm pretty sure, if a company moves its operations and your job no longer exists in the same loc…

Whenever you're applying for unemployment benefits, just give "position eliminated" as the reason. It doesn't ask who eliminated it.

Re: Amazon Tells Employees to Relocate or Resign

#30

Post by wavemode »

This is just another soft layoff.

Amazon has been aggressively reducing headcount for several years now. First they did multiple rounds of actual layoffs, then they ended remote work, and now you have to relocate to live near a hub office.

Mass resignations accomplish the same as layoffs but are much cheaper for Amazon due to not paying severance.

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