Quiet Cutting: Did Your Job Disappear?

Quiet cutting: when your job changes location, schedule or role and the company calls your exit "voluntary", who decides whether you quit? On paper your job may still exist, but the version you can do may be gone. Priya's job did not disappear. It moved. This episode reads Amazon's and Starbucks's own memos, a Supreme Court case about a retire-or-relocate choice, and the federal rules on exit waivers, then what to put in writing before you decide. What changed for you: location, schedule, or role? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe to The Adult Tax for the hidden costs of adult life, explained with primary sources. Educational content, not legal advice. US examples; state and plan rules differ. Season 2 of The Adult Tax, episode 1. What is quiet cutting? A label, popularized in a 2023 business-newspaper article, for moving or changing jobs instead of laying people off. No published count shows how often it is done on purpose. Who decides whether you quit for unemployment purposes? Your state's unemployment agency decides under its own law. The Department of Labor says the federal government has no authority to intervene in individual claims. How long do you have to challenge a forced exit? Most private-sector workers generally have 180 days to file a discrimination charge, or 300 where a state or local agency enforces a similar law. In Green v. Brennan (2016) the Supreme Court held that for a constructive-discharge claim the clock starts when the employee resigns. How long do you get to consider an exit offer with a waiver? Workers 40 or older must get at least 21 days to consider a waiver of age claims and 7 days to revoke it. In a group exit program the minimum is 45 days. 0:00 What is quiet cutting? 0:35 The clock in your paperwork 0:53 Is quiet cutting even real? 1:37 What did Amazon and Starbucks actually write? 3:45 Who decides whether you quit? 6:48 What is really in the exit offer? 9:22 What should you do this week? #QuietCutting #QuietFiring #ReturnToOffice #WorkPsychology #EmployeeDocuments #CareerDecisions #AdultTax Sources: Amazon CEO memo on Amazon corporate site (2024-09-16): https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/comp... Starbucks, Message from Brian: Reestablishing an in-office culture (2025-07-14): https://about.starbucks.com/press/202... Associated Press, Starbucks relocation report (2025-07-14): https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-... Wall Street Journal article syndicated by Mint, You've Heard of Quiet Quitting. Now Companies Are Quiet Cutting (2023-08-28): https://www.livemint.com/industry/hum... U.S. Supreme Court, Green v. Brennan, No. 14-613 (2016-05-23): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremeco... U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Time Limits For Filing A Charge (accessed 2026-10-14): https://www.eeoc.gov/time-limits-fili... U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements (accessed 2026-10-14): https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/qa... U.S. Department of Labor, Benefit Denials (accessed 2026-10-14): https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/conte...