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 29, 2025 8:00 PM EST

Working from home has changed so many people's lives. I know people who travel the world and finance it not by being an underpaid au pair, but by working for an American company remotely. If you know anything about American salaries, you know they are a lot bigger than European salaries, and can go a lot further in most other countries around the world than they can in America. There's a whole community on Reddit dedicated to the overemployed: people who have two or three remote jobs they work from home to bring in six-figure paychecks. Some of us like the small pleasures of working from home. I take pleasure in writing while supine. My roommate gets to cook and bake on his lunch break. My dad gets to join meetings with his dogs by his side, and I think that's beautiful. 

With all the benefits of working from home, 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. We're not in 2020 anymore, and remote work is getting increasingly restricted the closer we get to the 2030s.

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  • A man sitting on a couch using a laptop
    via Clay Banks (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The remote worker in this story wanted to move to the land of 10,000 lakes, but his job is trying to prevent him from doing so. Now, he's trying to move anyway and hopes his employer won't notice his address has changed, and he's paying less tax than he used to.

  • My Job Says I Can't Move

    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.
    via u/Leitheon
  • A man sitting at a table in front of a window
    via Clay Banks (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 wtf.
    via u/Leitheon
  • 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 wtf is going on.
    via u/Leitheon
  • Angry man working home on a computer
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 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
  • Edit: I have reviewed all documentation provided. This new policy goes into effect January 1st. I was requesting to move in March. Since I have already signed the lease for the new place, and given my notice to the current place, I have updated my address today in the hopes that this will fly under the radar. Close enough right?
    via u/Leitheon
  • 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
  • OP Leitheon They do. To my knowledge we have 6 employees that I interact with that currently live in MN.
    via u/Leitheon
  • KetoLurkerHereAgain If you already have people working in Minnesota, then this might be their tactic to slowly phase out the remote team altogether.
    via u/KetoLurkerHereAgain
  • OP Leitheon 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 shit 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 off
    via u/Leitheon
  • 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
  • OP Leitheon 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
  • 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
  • OP Leitheon 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
  • summonsays Look, here's the deal. They're trying to force everyone back into a physical office. You were grandfathered in but changing locations is a convenient excuse to get rid of someone they don't want to keep. Wouldn't surprise me if remote employees in your company get fired at a much higher rate than commuters. Anyway, sounds a lot like my office.
    via u/summonsays
  • OP Leitheon The odd thing is over 80% of my division is remote. It doesn't make a lot of sense for them to get rid of their entire IT/Compliance/Projects staff, especially when they have been struggling to fill positions already.
    via u/Leitheon
  • KetoLurkerHereAgain But would they then try to outsource? Since they're having "such a tough time" filling positions? I hope that's wrong but this all smacks of shady manipulation. It would be one thing if there weren't already people there, you know?
    via u/KetoLurkerHereAgain
  • OP Leitheon I won't say which industry, but I work in a highly regulated industry that pretty much allows no offshoring. We hire a lot of people from India, but they all get Visas and relocated to the states, I'm not aware of anyone who isn't in the continental US.
    via u/Leitheon
  • ki_mkt sounds like HR needs replaced put together a lot of the facts said here and contact Corporate "HR tells me Minnesota is not in our footprint and they can't approve my move" I'd went off on 'can't approve my move": "do you pay my mortgage?"
    via u/ki_mkt
  • OP Leitheon It's funny how HR comes up with the "Corporate Values" then they break 4/5 of them with this. "Rules for thee, but not for me." The sad part is I love my work, my boss, his boss, and my entire team and Org are fantastic. This is the first position I've had where I enjoy getting up and doing work, I truly feel fulfilled. But HR wants to shit on me.
    via u/Leitheon
  • johnnypark 1978 I want to say "This" but Hanlon's razor.... Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity. HR just won't anyone add a new residence if it isn't in their RTO mandated zones.
    via u/johnnypark1978
  • OP Leitheon Considering the CTO and everyone above me has stated it's bullshit, I think it's just HR and CEO being dumb and trying to follow the trend Google set a few months ago.
    via u/Leitheon

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