Remote Walmart employees across the United States are now questioning the company’s newly implemented in-person work policy. Some employees who have been ordered to relocate are even considering resigning.
In May, Walmart mandated that hundreds of remote workers relocate to its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, or its other hubs in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Northern California. A recent Bloomberg report revealed that employees opposed the return-to-office mandate during a company-wide Zoom call, with some resigning.
During the call, one participant described the RTO policy as “a bunch of bullsh-t.” In contrast, others expressed concerns about the challenges of living in Arkansas, childcare arrangements, increased workload, and the potential impact on their partners’ careers due to the relocation.
A Walmart employee informed Bloomberg that he decided to resign from the company rather than relocate on such short notice. According to the report, employees unable to relocate must terminate their employment with the company between August 2024 and January 2025.
Being forced to relocate like that should constitute a contract renegotiation and these folks should get severance and unemployment.
My job just moved to the headquarters, so I quit. The company did indeed offer $20,000 to move me and, if not, 2-months severance and benefits, with my PTO used first and paid in full. Also, the contract stated there would be no issue with me filing for unemployment after severance is over. That’s how it should be done.
I can’t blame them in my case. Since a large chunk of my duties involved shipping and troubleshooting hardware, it makes sense to have someone available to come in once or twice a week.
Anybody got any remote IT positions? I can send a resume. If you DM me, I’ll not likely see it. Reply here and I’ll get with you.
I’m curious what setup you have that allows you to see replies but not DMs
Bad advice if they’re in IT. City/state IT frequently struggles to keep good talent, because they often pay less than 50 or 60% of market rate for IT positions. The only reason to consider it is if you’re looking for a retirement package. But even then, you’ll likely need to stay for 5’ish years to get vested in the state retirement system. State/city lawmakers really hate investing in IT staff.
Not sure of US law, but in Canada something like this would be considered Constructive Dismissal, so you resign and they legally owe you termination pay and severence pay based on position amd years served
In US law, workers can generally be terminated for “any reason or no reason.”
Yes, but this isn’t termination, it’s making working so intolerable that you quit.
But it varies by state. There’s no federal law about it. https://www.findlaw.com/employment/losing-a-job/constructive-dismissal-and-wrongful-termination.html
It’s almost like that offer letter than you signed is a contract that specifies your job duties, pay, benefits, and time off. If you have a union, then there is a whole other contract as well.
Hardly the sort of contract that is ever subject to renegotiation, or even any initial negotiation. It’s all very one-sided.
It’s constructive dismissal, and they can 100% file for unemployment even though they “resigned”. Basically, Walmart is laying them off of their old WFH position, and is offering them a new in-office position. And if the new position isn’t on-par with what they were already doing, they aren’t required to accept it. They can refuse the worse job offer and file for unemployment (because they were laid off of their old job) instead.
To be clear: Walmart will 100% contest their unemployment claim. But if the worker appeals and provides proof of the constructive dismissal, they’ll win and get unemployment back paid to when they first filed. If your employer ever drastically and negatively changes your job description (like cutting your hours, cutting your pay, suddenly requiring in-office, etc,) you should be in the unemployment line to file that same day.
Being forced to move to that trash state should be a crime
Sad thing is the Bentonville area is rather nice. Because the Walton kids have dumped a bunch of money into it. Whole state could be just as nice if Arkansas would tax those assholes effectively.
lol I’ve only visited on business trips. Seemed nice. Have heard like everywhere people are now getting priced out.
I live in Bella Vista and absolutely love it. There’s plenty to hate about this state. Most of it related to politics. But the Northwest Arkansas area is beautiful and an overall nice place to live.
That said, I’ve avoided Walmart like the plague because they’re a notoriously shitty place to work. Of course that’s not exactly a secret.
Ex took my kids to Arkansas, my mom lived there and I used to live next door in Tulsa. I have very little issue living here in the Deep South, but I would not move to Arkansas.
Funny note: The 01/06 insurrectionist with his feet on Pelosi’s desk? That was mom’s neighbor. The mayor was on TV saying he didn’t want people thinking they were all racist assholes like Bigo. LOL NO! My mom was a hardcore racist and even she hated the guy.
To be fair Gravette is a massive shit hole. There’s better areas around there.
Fuck walmart.
Stop shopping there if you can, people.
I never really shopped there. Its cheap and dirty. I always felt like I needed a shower afterwards.
I stopped shopping there about 10 years ago. My wife occasionally argues that we should go there and I have to launch into my tirade again about what an evil company they are. That’s not even considering how everything they sell is absolute shit. Not a single thing in the store is what it masquerades as on the slightly altered label.
Been fighting this fight for a while. It’s like everyone I’ve ever said something to in real life doesn’t understand. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one. Lol
Some people don’t have a choice. When we were really poor, we shopped there even though I hated it, because we literally couldn’t afford to shop anywhere else. But as soon as I started making better money I completely boycotted them. Other people are just really apathetic to anything that doesn’t directly impact them in the immediate present. And then of course there are plenty of less than intelligent people who just don’t get it, like you said.
Why does leadership at Walmart hate productive employees and the environment so much?
They cost to much. We saw it a year ago they’ll let these position become vacant then hire for much less. They knew by doing this it would happen.
