Labor bosses are threatening layoffs if the election doesn’t go their way

It’s no secret that in America, the business world actively meddles in politics — one of the worst and most absurd features of our surprisingly broken political system.

One Reddit employee is seeing firsthand how that tends to shake out after their employer began making ominous claims about how the election results could affect the company in ways that are not only unethical, but illegal.

Labor leaders are threatening layoffs if the election does not go in their favor.

“I am a contractor for a company that works in a technology-related field” – wrote the worker telecommunications company in which they work. “They suddenly force everyone to drop their normal work and write automation test plans.”

Getting your employees to come up with AI plans is definitely sinister, and rumor has it in this person’s office that most of their contracts will canceled and replaced by automation “If the election results are unequivocal.”

“I was not able to learn more information by talking to others,” they said. “Obviously I’m very overwhelmed…Anyone have any thoughts on which candidate’s victory could trigger this?”

The tech industry has largely backed Trump. But Trump has also promised to wreck the economy and undo the economic policies of the Biden administration.

Trump has become a darling of business leaders across all industries for his promises to end nearly every form of regulation, from financial regulations to eliminating the EPA’s ability to protect the environment and cut taxes. (Instead, raising corporate taxes is a cornerstone of Kamala Harris’ economic plans.)

After years as a reliable source of support for Democratic candidates, the tech industry has largely followed suit this election cycle, even with prolific Democratic donors like Allison Nguyen. jump ship and support Trump. Given the tech industry’s heavy reliance on H-1B immigrant workers — a program Trump attacked during his first term — none of this makes sense, but it hasn’t stopped change.

Many immediately suspected that this employee’s bosses were emulating far-right Silicon Valley leaders like Elon Musk and trying to get their employees to vote for Trump. But others suggest that the employee’s employer could have done the opposite — urging staff to vote for Kamala Harris through dozens of economists’ warnings that Trump’s plans will undermine the economy.

In recent days even Musk himself admitted this that Trump’s plans will completely destroy the economy, which he claims is actually a good thing. He called it “temporary hardship” necessary for “long-term prosperity,” a claim as absurd as it is ominous.

@nowthisimpact 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists support Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic plan over Donald Trump’s. Trump’s plan to deport at least 20 million people would devastate the economy, halving GDP from what it fell to during the 2008 financial crisis. This is not hyperbole: it could literally trigger a second Great Depression. #kamalaharris #trump #economy ♬ original sound – NowThis Impact

Anyway, in the following comment, the employee shared the reason they believe their bosses might actually be Harris’ team: The company has benefited greatly from grants that were part of the Biden administration’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — Trump has made it clear he plans to cancelin spite of it boosted employment and the economy in general

Even so, such employer activity can be considered voter intimidation, a federal and state crime.

Voter intimidation is a federal crimealthough exactly what that means in relation to an employer seems to be unclear, especially in the wake of the absurd 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United , which held that corporations essentially have the same political and speech rights as individuals.

However, state laws are much clearer.

As Virginia attorney Thomas Spiggle told the Society for Human Resource Management“In most states, private employers can fire their employees for their political activity or affiliation, as long as the firing is not a form of voter intimidation or coercion.”

Which isn’t great — of course, they shouldn’t be allowed to fire people based on their political affiliations at all. But while the fact that the employee’s employer didn’t nominate a candidate might help him avoid liability, most states consider that a pretty clear violation of voter intimidation laws.

Of course, this does not mean that in any way it is worth filing a lawsuit – or that there will be no layoffs anywayregardless of who wins.

As one Redditor told this employee, the best answer is probably “always apply.”

John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer covering pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.