My job gave me the ultimatum last week: move out to our office or forfeit my position. I've been doing my job entirely remote for 3.5+ years. My job was initially supposed to be in-person, but then COVID and I've been remote since. In those 3.5+ years, I have consistently done my job well.
This past year, our manager passed away. We've had an interim manager while we look for someone to permanently replace my late manager. We've also had a new assistant manager join this past year. These two met with me last week to discuss my role and give me the ultimatum. They gave me until Dec. 17th to decide. They also said they would provide me with one month's pay during the month of January, as a “buffer”, to help while I look for new positions as it's “so close to holidays”.
I can't help but feel this is retaliation. They said in the meeting last week that this decision is not due to being unhappy with my work. However, I feel strongly that it's because I refused to fly out there on my own dime (airfare, transportation, hotel/lodging, food) to facilitate a tech conference. They were unhappy I chose not to go and got HR involved, despite me giving them a Dr.'s note explaining I was unable to go there. So I complied with HR and presented another doctor's note for my seizure disorder & corresponding anxiety which was preventing me from going there.
Instead of going there, I facilitated the conference remotely (which makes sense for a tech company). It went great. We received good feedback, but they were still unhappy that I did not go out there. Their focus was on how me not going made our office appear to others. After this “hiccup” (me not attending the conference), my managers told me they were going to start requiring everyone to RTO & they would like me to offer some suggestions as to how I can alter my role to keep it remote. So I did just that – offering different behind-the-scenes roles I could take on. We have several, very renowned organizations that fund us. They said they'd contact HR and get back to me re: my options I provided. This was back in October. They kept pushing it off, leaving me wondering if I was going to have a job or not until last week.
SO last week – they tell me they don't have a position to provide for me, except for the one I'm in now. That they really need a “go-getter” who “schmoozes funders” over coffee in-person and how hard this is to do over Zoom. That is not in my job description in the least. There is nothing in my job description even about communicating with funders.
I'm planning to communicate with my 2 managers my decision this week, which is to not move to the office/PNW. I'm preparing my next steps. I have ~30 days of accrued sick time, and my company has a policy to only pay out 25% of those days which means I'd lose a lot. They will pay me for my unused vacation time. If they're expecting me to let them know by Dec. 17th and will pay me for the month of January, should I try to use up as many sick days as possible these next few weeks and give them my 2 weeks notice on Dec. 17th? That'd make my last day in the office January 2nd but I'd really try to take off as many sick days as possible. I'd feel guilty, though, about leaving them with all the responsibility of transferring my work.
I've been applying to other jobs since this all started in October and have interviewed for a few.
Any and all advice or validation would be so appreciated. So tired and haven't been able to sleep from the stress.
TLDR: job gave me an ultimatum to move/RTO or quit. need validation and advice on using sick days.