Can You Refuse to Return to the Office?

In some parts of the world where Covid-19 cases are dropping, it’s starting to feel like the end of the pandemic is in sight. That’s driving governments and companies to begin encouraging—and sometimes mandating—that workers return to the office after two years at home. But after so much time, and so much experience of a different, more flexible work life, do we want to go back? And do we have to?

With the rate of covid-19 transmission falling, “most businesses expect to welcome employees back to the office on a part-time or full-time basis in the coming weeks,” said Domenique Camacho Moran, an employment attorney at law firm Farrell Fritz in New York. “Generally, employees do not have the right to refuse to return to the office.”

Employees with mental or physical impairments might be able to demand that their employers “engage in an interactive dialogue regarding reasonable accommodations,” Camacho Moran added. But remote work, she notes “is not always [considered] a reasonable accommodation.”

Read the full article on Quartz here:

How to refuse a return to office mandate (qz.com)