It’s no secret that business in the United States is heavily involved in politics – it’s one of the worst and most absurd aspects of our astonishingly broken political system.

A Reddit employee saw first-hand how that tends to change after his employer started making disturbing statements about how the election outcome could affect the company in ways that are not only contrary to the ethical, but also illegal.

The workers’ bosses are threatening to fire them if the elections do not go as they want.

“I am an entrepreneur in a business in a technology-adjacent field,” the worker wrote of the telecommunications company for which they work. “Out of the blue, they push everyone to abandon their regular jobs and write automation test plans.”

Asking your staff to develop AI plans is certainly a bad omen, and the word around this person’s office is that most of their contracts will be canceled and replaced by automation “if the election results go one way.”

“I was not able to learn more information by talking to others,” they continued. “I’m obviously very shaken… Does anyone have an opinion on the winning candidate that could trigger this?”

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The tech industry has largely supported Trump. But Trump also essentially pledged to collapse the economy and reverse the Biden administration’s economic policies.

Trump has become the darling of business leaders across all kinds of industries because of his promise to end almost all forms of regulation, from financial rules to dismantling the capacity of the Federal Protection Agency. environment to protect the environment and reduce taxes. (Increasing corporate taxes, on the other hand, is a cornerstone of Kamala Harris’s economic plans.)

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

Many immediately suspected that these workers’ bosses were following the lead of far-right Silicon Valley darlings like Elon Musk and trying to coerce their employees into voting for Trump. But others speculated that the worker’s employer might do the opposite: urge staff to vote for Kamala Harris because of dozens of warnings from economists that Trump’s plans will ruin the economy.

In recent days, even Musk himself admitted this that Trump’s plans will lead to a complete collapse of the economy, which he says is actually a good thing. He called these “temporary hardships” necessary for “long-term prosperity,” a claim as absurd as it is sinister.

Regardless, in a later comment, the employee shared a reason to believe his bosses might actually be Team Harris: The company benefited greatly from grants that were part of the bipartisan Health Act. Biden administration’s investment in infrastructure and jobs – Trump announced plans to scrap the legislationdespite the the boost it gave to employment and the economy overall.

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Regardless, such activity by an employer may constitute voter intimidation, a federal and state crime.

Voter intimidation is a federal crimealthough what exactly constitutes it versus an employer seems unclear, especially since the advent of the Supreme Court’s absurd 2010 Citizens United decision, which ruled that corporations have essentially the same political and of expression than individuals.

State laws are much clearer, however.

As Virginia attorney Thomas Spiggle told the Society for Human Resource Management“In most states, private employers can fire their employees because of their political activities or affiliations, provided the termination does not constitute a form of voter intimidation or coercion.”

What’s not great: They shouldn’t be allowed to fire people based on their political affiliation at all, of course. But even if that worker’s employer’s failure to nominate a candidate might help them escape accountability, most states would consider that a pretty egregious violation of voter intimidation laws.

This of course does not mean that legal action would be worth it… or that layoffs won’t happen anywayit doesn’t matter who wins.

As one Reddit user told this worker, the best answer is probably “always apply“.

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