This is exactly what comanies want. if you quit or find another job, the company didnt have "layoffs" or an employee reduction, they had natural resignations where the jobs werent backfilled and instead the duties spread amongst the remaining employees.
that way theres no bad press about X company having 10% layoffs or something similar. and it avoids them getting sued for wrongful termination nor having to pay a severance package.
but unless you are in some industrywhere getting fired fired - no matter what the issue was, makes you unhireable to other companies in your industry, you should probably call her from a non company cell phone, or use a burner phone / free phone number application and tell her to start looking for a new job, but to absolutely not quit the job.
Make sure she asks HR in email that the change of WFH may impact her ability to come in the office, what options she has to keep her job. Are there any exceptions, can she apply for them, etc.
Make HR tell her in writing its in the office or you are fired.
then if she cant or wont be able to go into the office, make sure to use up any remaining sick days/ PTO and refuse to sign any HR paperwork.
When they fire her- which they will since Texas is an at will state- she can still claim unemployement after being let go
The company will fight it hard, and claim she was being fired for job abandonment or some shit like that. but she would have a good counter argument that her job description had materially changed and through no fault of her own, that change in description resulted in her being let go.
its not guaranteed, but theres still a reasonable chance to get paid something while shes looking for work
and she can stick it to the company at the end.
and maybe just maybe she gets lucky because maybe the chaotic application of the remote work being revoked for 1 but not all was implemented in a possibly descriminatory manner, maybe the company fuck that up and end up firing too many people of either a protected class and/or residents of a specific area -i.e. anyone with cool job code 1 gets to WFH even if they live accross the street, while a single woman is forced to find a way to drive 50 miles both ways because she has job code 4
that could end up getting a decent settlement. although I fully understand thats rare as fuck. more companies have gotten smart to that kind of shit.
of course going that route means she would never be eligible for rehire again, but if they are fucking you over that bad, who cares unless you work in such a niche field you cant find another job if you get marked as unhireable.