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submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warns remote workers: 'It's probably not going to work out for you'::Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees who defy his edict to return to the office three days a week that "it's probably not going to work out for you."

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[-] skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 109 points 10 months ago

Amazon employees who refused to relocate near main offices of their teams were told they either have to find a new job internally or leave the company through a “voluntary resignation.”

How dumb does he think people are? This just makes me angry because they're probably going to get away with it too.

[-] makar94@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 10 months ago

Why would you quit? Continue working from home while lining up a new job. Or, if they don't specify how long you have to be in on those 3 days, just clock in and go back home an hour later. Game the system, make it work for you. They do.

[-] skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 10 points 10 months ago

If you're 10+ hours away clocking in for 2 minutes isn't possible.

If you're ever in this situation, look up constructive dismissal. Basically its better to stay home and be "fired" and refuse the voluntarily resignation. That being said, the USA has a lot less protections for employees then Canada or Europe but it's good to be informed anyway.

[-] 3laws@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They don't "game" the system, the make it, and it will always work on their favor.

!Only attempt to game the system if you are a man, preferably white, masc appearing, not that poor, not visually disabled. Other rules may apply, please read your manual. Complaints to deities are accepted but always ignored. If you think you qualify for game the system consult your favorite TikTok cashcow influencer and quote Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos/Bill Gates/Steve Jobs for credibility and social leverage. We are no responsible for predictable consequences if you take game the system while not meeting the aforementioned criteria.!<

[-] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago

Nah, if you’re visibly disabled you’ve got a leg up. Just claim wrongful termination and go for a jury trial.

We were specifically told that it doesn't count if you're not at an office the majority of the day. Everybody was joking about doing that at first.

[-] BreakDecks@lemmy.ml 17 points 10 months ago

lmao, "voluntary resignation" is hilarious. If you plan to purge everyone who won't relocate, you're gonna have to do a layoff. This isn't one of those layoffs that will impress investors, because it won't represent efficiency or cost savings, but instead corporate dysfunction.

If your workers aren't voluntarily relocating to return to the office, they're certainly not going to voluntarily forfeit their unemployment benefits by quitting. They'll just stop working and wait for the pink slip.

Unless they plan to attach a severance more valuable that unemployment benefits to the resignation, they're fucking dreaming. Even so, that would be a hilarious misstep to offer Amazon employees a voluntary paid exit, because it would undoubtedly result in an unsustainable wave of resignations across the org.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 11 points 10 months ago

voluntary resignation

I'm not a lawyer, I'm not your lawyer, this is not legal advice, offer not valid in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico, no warranty, either express or implied, is offered, do not pass go, do not collect $200

With all that out of the way: This "voluntary resignation" garbage is their way of getting out of paying unemployment. If you're ever in a situation like this where they change job requirements and tell you that if you don't meet the new requirements you've "voluntarily resigned" call them on it. Keep doing the job as you did it before the change and make them fire you. For purposes of collecting unemployment, making broad unilateral changes to job requirements is called "constructive dismissal" and you'd still qualify to collect, but if you just don't show up at all, turn in your 2 weeks or sign a letter of voluntary resignation then for unemployment purposes you're considered to have quit rather than been fired and you can't collect. If they tell you you have to come back to the office and you're ready to quit about it just keep working from home til they fire you.

Basically (very basically, laws vary state by state and this isn't a perfect summary of any one state's laws) the law says that employers are free to ask something different of employees after hire, but that after a certain point changes to the job requirements effectively mean that the employee is now working an entirely different job than what they were hired for. When changes are enough to constitute constructive dismissal the state is essentially treating it as though the employer fired the employee from the original job and simultaneously offered them a new one. Turning down that new job does not disqualify them from collecting unemployment for the old one. This concept was originally implemented to stop employers from avoiding unemployment charges by cutting an employee down to one hour per week or forcing them to work shifts opposite what they signed on for, then hoping they'll quit rather than be fired. I haven't seen whether return to office mandates constitute constructive dismissal, and I imagine it will be highly dependent on location and facts (were you hired remote or did you transition to remote from in-office and was the remote status communicated as temporary or permanent/a perk of the job are two that leap to mind). This is why I only recommend following this strategy if you intended to quit anyway. If you want to keep your job do what they tell you to do.

this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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