If a team isn't set up for remote work, a single employee moving to a new location and timezone (while the rest are in SF) is absolutely going to affect everyone's productivity.
Unless the role was remote to begin with, such requests would get denied at most companies, so I don't see what the big point of contention is here.
If they move anywhere outside the Western Hemisphere. I have no problem doing meetings with coworkers in New York and even São Paulo, although Europe and Asia are indeed brutal. My team is very lucky in that our remote collaborators are in Latin America rather than India. At this point I simply decline any meetings with India unless someone very high level personally asks me to be there. Getting away with it so far.
Back in 2007 I moved to a team where everybody was located in the same building in USA and I was alone a continent away. The team was definitely not set for remote work, it was the first time they tried it.
When I changed the team in late 2010 I was the best rated in that team and I was replaced by 3 people in Germany (my role expanded), already knowing remote can work. During the 4 years in that team I went to the US office 2 times for a few days each time.
Unless the role was remote to begin with, such requests would get denied at most companies, so I don't see what the big point of contention is here.