Company forces remote employees to return to the office 5 days/week, charges them $80 for parking: 'Employees don't get any kind of discount'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Aug 26, 2026 4:30 PM EDT

Should you have to pay for parking at your office?

Working means sacrifice. It's a sacrifice of your time and energy, in exchange for money at its most basic level. When you start at a new job, there are lots of sacrifices you have to make in order to remain in good standing. Should your money be one of them? Working a job is never "free" per se. You have to buy clothes to wear to work, you have to buy lunch, and you have to pay for your commute. These are the little costs that we accept as part and parcel of the working experience. But if there were huge add-on costs to that, then you might start to think twice. You don't want to end up in a situation where you're paying more than you're comfortable with just to keep a job. They already ask so much of you; they shouldn't be asking you to open up your wallet as well. That's what this company was asking its employees to do, though. 

Returning to the office after previously being remote-first is a big topic of debate. Companies see it as a way to connect and unify their employees, and employees see it as an unnecessary return to something that might not have been working before. The company in this story was facing that return to office, and it came with a few strings attached. A good rule about incentivizing people to do something they might not want to do: don't make it difficult. If you're asking people to return to the office, it should be as easy as possible to do so. You should think about the perks you can offer to sweeten the deal a little bit. You don't want to give people a reason to feel like they're not being cared for. That's what was happening here, though, in this workplace that was making the big return to the office. Keep reading to see what happened and what you think.

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  • An employee checks her phone in a parking lot at work
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Not actual story subjects.


    An employee checks her phone in a parking lot at work

  • My company forced us back into the office and then started charging us to park there.

    Most of us have been fully remote for the past 4 years, with some people coming in on a hybrid schedule. Zero issues with either setup. A few weeks ago management announced everyone had to come back 5 days a week because they wanted to rebuild company culture. Fine, whatever.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • Today we got an email saying starting next month the employee parking lot is going to cost $80 a month. They apparently hired an outside company to manage it and employees don't get any kind of discount. There is basically nowhere else to park around our building. Management has reserved spots underneath the building of course, and those are still free.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • One guy asked during our meeting if we could stay remote or hybrid since coming into the office now literally costs us money and our director said commuting expenses are a personal responsibility.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • I'm seriously considering just quitting over this. Being ordered back into a building I don't need to be in and then being charged for the privilege of parking outside it is driving me insane.
    via ProfessionalDog5742

  • Commenters agreed that there were ways to confront this.

    the_old_w4ys Talk to an employment lawyer. They may be trying to cut down on head count this way. It could be construed as constructive dismissal.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • mercurygreen Time to put in for a raise. So you can get paid more and pay taxes on that, just for the privilege of working there. How much does $80 worth of stolen office supplies weigh anyway?
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • Rx_Diva That's almost $1000/year pay cut per person. I'd speak to the union rep, or employment lawyer. Corporate CULTure s ks.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • A parking lot filled with cars
    via Ron Kuan

    A parking lot filled with cars 

  • Lobster_Bodyslam Should name drop the company. That's appalling
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • KidenStormsoarer Those aren't commuting expenses, it's a de facto pay cut
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • PlatypusStyle I'd look into who owns the outside company because maybe that outside company is owned by your company. and yes, talking to an employment lawyer is a good idea. Maybe you could all go in on it together.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • darth_wasabi In addition to other suggestions send the name of both companies to all your local journalists. They might look into it. Sounds like it could be something illegal or at least shady. Companies who do stuff like this don't want journalists poking around because it might expose even worse behavior
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • Useful-Problem-1725 Park in the manager's spot. If I have to pay to park to work I'm out, f them.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • Alert-Artichoke-2743 You're probably better off speaking with an employment lawyer, since the company is requiring. attendance at a physical location without any parking not at significant employee expense. This isn't terribly different from charging employees $80/mo for uniforms they are required to wear, or charging $80/mo to enter the building.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • Independently of potential legal recourse, I would never recommend breaking the law, but it does seem like an operationally fragile system. If somebody were to deface the payment/authorization mechanisms, the company would be unable to provide parking to its work force without waiving one or the other.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • hoch_ Commuting expenses directly imposed on you by the employer - assuming such based on your calling it the "employee parking lot" they lease or own it - is not a true commuting expense.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • My employer recently repainted the parking spot lines across the property. In your case that would be essentially equivalent to passing that expense onto the worker. All landscaping that is in or around the parking lot would also fit the
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • bill. They are setting up a scheme in which at full capacity, the "employee parking" costs them nothing to maintain. So they can sell the property when it proves of no use at a profit.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • And of course, as mentioned earlier, they are trying to get people to quit, likely ahead of planned layoffs. Consult an employment lawyer now. It won't be expensive (if any cost at all) to determine if you at least have a case against your employer.
    via ProfessionalDog5742
  • ajax-187 Woww in Netherlands they pay for the travel or parking most times. I'm sorry for you to have to deal with that.
    via ProfessionalDog5742

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