Ask a Manager: I Don't Want To Move To Texas

[minoanmiss]

Content advisory: recent sociopolitical news, not-so-recent lawmaking, reproductive rights and trans people legally imperiled.



2. Company says they’ll fly me to another state if I need an abortion

My partner began working for Big Tech Company during the pandemic, so his role was remote. We (cis, straight) thought it would stay that way, but now BTC is requiring that we move to Austin and saying that no one is exempt except for medical reasons, like if there is a specific doctor that you cannot find a corollary for in Texas.

As firm believers in reproductive, LGBTQ+ and all other rights, we will not move there and have told BTC such, citing my loss of bodily autonomy and our solidarity with the trans community. Their “solution” is that, were I to need an abortion, they would pay for me to fly to another state to receive one.

To me, this seems as if they’re picking and choosing which medical conditions “count.” If you were seeing a cancer specialist, they wouldn’t say, “Well, we’ll fly you home to see your doctor if you relapse.” I know it isn’t a perfect comparison, but it’s also a bad policy. (My partner is supposed to tell BTC, “Hey, Girlfriend needs to fly to another state for an abortion”?? No chance that could have any repercussions…)

Do you have any thoughts on if/how we might push back on this? My partner loves his job and doesn’t want to leave, but we are NOT moving somewhere so regressive.

I wish I did. I suspect their reasoning is that this isn’t a doctor from whom you need ongoing or current care, and so it’s more of a speculative situation — although I 100% understand and agree with your reasoning. They’re also probably concerned that if they agree, they’ll be handing a pass on moving to every employee who could get pregnant or is married to someone who could. My guess is that the only way to get them to budge will be with more organized action with other employees joining you. But other thoughts from readers?

Comments

subthreads

[minoanmiss]

The discussion is remarkably not horrible -- I was expecting quite a few angry defenses of Texas.

Subtopics include: will the company actually do this or is the offer for show; the logistics of the offer; whether it extends or could extend to treatment for trans kids ; would it be more helpful for more liberals to move to Texas or to leave Texas.

Subtopics so far have not included: the evils of abortion; the evils of being trans; the evils of liberals; how dare you mess with Texas. I am very relieved.

[gingeriana]

Isn't it like illegal? The company is basically asking a fragment of your medical records. You are not supposed to show that to third parties, imho

[bikergeek]

Sociopolitical issues aside, advertising a job as remote, hiring a remote employee on the apparent premise that they'd remain remote, and pulling an "Okay, everybody back into the office, including having to relocate if you're not local to Austin" is REALLY shitty behavior. That alone would have me looking for another job, regardless of the other circumstances surrounding my partner's reproductive freedom.

Okay, so, BTC (and I have trouble not parsing that as "Bitcoin") has arranged it so that the state's draconian abortion laws won't affect you personally. "It doesn't affect me personally" is NOT good enough. And what if this couple plan to have kids? What if their child turns out to be trans, and the law prohibits them from seeking gender-affirming medical care for that child?

You might think that the only hope of getting laws changed in places like Texas is if companies like BTC start to notice that they can't attract or retain qualified talent because of the state's laws surrounding reproductive freedom and LGBTQ people and relationships, and then start to lobby to have the laws changed, because Republicans listen to big business. But you'd be wrong. The Talibangelists would be perfectly happy to burn the entire state to the ground and leave it a smoking, impoverished crater so long as they got to "pwn the libs". Not only will they cut off their nose to spite their face, they'll full-on decapitate themselves. So staying isn't going to help.

[cereta]

I have actually read of Texas-based companies looking to relocate en masse, offering employees telecommute options if they want to move out of state, or actually making this offer to try to keep (cishet) women employees from leaving. It's actually a real crisis, as Texas, and particularly Austin, have become a big tech location.

[frenzy]

I'm in austin, which a decade ago felt like, at least a liberal oasis from the rest of texas, but gods now i want to leave this shitty fucking state.