Job tells remote employee he can't move to Minnesota from Florida without getting fired, only allows him to move to Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, or North Carolina: 'I already live somewhere not approved, as does my entire team'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Nov 24, 2024 12:00 PM EST

Working from home has changed so many people's lives. I know people who travel the world and are able to finance that not by being an underpaid au pair but by working for an American company remotely. There's a whole community on Reddit dedicated to the overemployed: people who have two or three remote jobs that they work at from home to bring home six-figure paychecks. Some of us like the small pleasures of working from home. My dad gets to join meetings with his dogs by his side, and I think that's beautiful. 

With all the benefits working from home brings, there are always downsides. Just because your job can't control whether you work at the coffee shop or from your bed doesn't mean they can't dictate what city you live in. The remote worker in this story wanted to move to the land of 10,000 lakes, but his job prevented it. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10432164096
    via Clay Banks (Unsplash+)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    My Job Says I Can't Move
    via u/Leitheon
  • 03
    I was hired in 2022 as a Project Manager. I'm fully remote and live 800 miles from the nearest corporate office. I love my Job, I love my team, I am fulfilled by my work, great benefits, etc. The last 18 months have been the best of my life. Fast forward to 5 weeks ago. "Return to Office" campaign. No problem, my entire organization umbrella is remote, only 11% live near the corporate office. We are grandfathered, but talent acquisition will no longer hire remote. Still no problem.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 04
    My wife and I are tired of Florida and our lease is almost up, we do our research and decide we like Minnesota. We visited last week and found a nice place. A couple coworkers live there and helped recommend areas. We pay the application fee and pass the background check. We give our 60 day notice to our current place. I put in PTO for the move and My boss is happy for me and tells me to inform HR of the new address.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 05
    HR tells me Minnesota is not in our footprint and they can't approve my move. If I go through with the move I will be asked to resign. Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, and Charlotte are the approved work locations. But my role is remote, my department is remote, and we have people in Minnesota, so
    via u/Leitheon
  • 06
    My coworker in Miami was offered a promotion by a director, but HR declined to consider her because she wouldn't relocate her family to Alabama, our boss has no idea is going on. So I've been told I'm remote, grandfathered, my department is remote, but if I move somewhere not approved I'll be fired, but I already live somewhere not approved, as does my entire team.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 07
    Lil_Big_Sis5 Do they know about the other employees who already live in the area? It seems really weird they won't let you move somewhere other employees already live.
    via u/Lil_Big_Sis5
  • 08
    Leitheon OP They do. To my knowledge we have 6 employees that I interact with that currently live in MN.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 09
    HeKnee Their costs for employers in worker friendly states likely costs them more than business friendly states. They'd probably have to pay you like 1.5% more in extra benefits so they want to discourage you from moving.
    via u/HeKnee
  • 10
    HardSubject69 Yeah they all do this. Any corporate company likely has a giant office in Atlanta/dallas/Phoenix because those places had tons of people, Low a pay, and no benifits. The company I was at trimmed other states benifits to look like red states where they could.... Oh and they shut down all the offices in CA, WA, NY, and a bunch of small locations everywhere. And pushed people into these large hubs or you're fired. It's just typical for them to try and pull back benifits.
    via u/HardSubject69
  • 11
    MasterDeBaitor • 11h ago Move to Minnesota. Rent a P.O. box in Atlanta. Forward all mail from that box to Minnesota address. Now idk what this does for your health insurance, but it should buy you some time.
    via u/MasterDeBaitor
  • 12
    KetoLurkerHereAgain f you already have people working in Minnesota, then this might be their tactic to slowly phase out the remote team altogether.
    via u/KetoLurkerHereAgain
  • 13
    Leitheon OP I work in IT Projects, over 80% of our IT staff are fully remote and live all across the country. Because qualified IT people aren't plentiful in the sh hole "home" state, we are one of the corporate wings that is staying fully remote. They have dozens of positions they are desperate to fill, but can't find good people for. They had a big conference about how this was only for certain job titles/roles that they felt would work better being in-person, they don't even have enough offic
    via u/Leitheon
  • 14
    Ok_Cauliflower6211 It sounds to me like an effort to eliminate or reduce the remote workforce. But hopefully they are suffering intensely from their decision to reduce their candidate pool dramatically. America will look back at this in a couple years and realize how we let the pendulum swing entirely too far back in the other direction. taught us a lot about remote work -But probably even more about career freedom. It's just sad to watch the worker bees give in more and more each passing payday
    via u/Ok_Cauliflower6211
  • 15
    College-student-life I'm guessing it's because of all the extra benefits you'll get like 5 state mandated sick days, no questions asked. In 2026 you will guaranteed 12 paid weeks maternity/paternity leave, etc. they don't like the politics and the benefits for their employees they would have to give you. Companies are afraid to have happy and healthy employees.
    via u/College-student-life
  • 16
    Leitheon OP The funny thing is, all the extra things I would get in Minnesota, the company already offers as standard. I get 3 weeks PTO, 2 weeks Paid Sick Leave, and 14 weeks maternity. They even offer legal assistance with adoptions.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 17
    erikleorgav2 As a Minnesotan, it's a fairly wonderful state; especially the lake county. All I could note is that if you're grandfathered in, they need to provide you with documentation that outlined their definition of "grandfathered". If there is any documentation, provided to you in days prior, that states this, their claims wouldn't hold up against scrutiny. Of course, as I am no legal expert, I'd say consulting with a legal-eagle would not be a bad idea.
    via u/erikleorgav2
  • 18
    Duracotus Doesn't even matter, though. Florida is one of those super hostile to worker "right to work" states. As are the majority of the states that seem to fall under their operations areas. They could fire you for not likely your hair and that would be that. It's hyper-stupid.
    via u/_Duracotus
  • 19
    GoatzR4Me Ya know how people who hate communism say it controls where you can go?
    via u/GoatzR4Me
  • 20
    CagaliYoll "Asked to resign" How about NO. Instruct HR that your mailing address has changed. If they can't figure out the tax forms that's their problem. If they fire you sue them.
    via u/CagaliYoll
  • 21
    Leitheon OP I don't know where you live, but "sue them" only works if they fire me for an illegal reason. Last time I checked the NLRB, "Location" was not a protected class.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 22
    gatherer818 No, but the fact that some employees are allowed to work there and others aren't could easily be a discrimination claim.
    via u/gatherer818

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