I live with an immunocompromised family member who also has kidney disease and takes 15-20 pills every day. While I’ll probably survive if I catch COVID, I can’t risk my family by taking public transit and commuting to work. I literally got hired remotely and have been working from home ever since and now they want us back in the office on a hybrid model twice a week. I know many of my colleagues are upset with this arrangement as well. I’m not comfortable in the office either because people remove their masks and positivity rate is still high at above 10%.
Today I spoke to my manager and aside from the above reason, I also mentioned that it’s a huge time waster and costs a lot of money. Probably shouldn’t have said that. Either way, they said this is not a remote position and will work with me to find a solution. For now I’m being asked me to drive in while the company comes up with a solution. That’s at least a 1 hour drive one way, not to mention the cost of parking and gasoline.
I’m considering just not showing up for return to office but I honestly don’t want to risk losing my job either. The pay is fairly good and the amount of PTO is great. Don’t want to mess up my references for the next job either, though I hear asking for references is illegal? As much as we say it’s a job seeker’s market, it doesn’t appear to be the case here. We have record immigration levels and job postings are free and far in between for my company.
Suggestions on how to proceed?