Buried lede. The RTO requirement was in response to the staff attempting to unionize. Either retaliation or a clever method to clear out the workers who were most in favour of the union without breaking labour laws.
Labor laws are a lot more assuming than criminal laws in the US - if you do something that looks suspect and you had foreknowledge of the situation you're trying to resolve, then there's nearly no mens rea component - it is just assumed you were acting in bad faith.
If you had foreknowledge that your employees wanted input (via a union) on employment conditions, and then you unilaterally push an arduous employment condition on them, you have violated the spirit of what they are seeking.
If only corruption laws worked the same way.
How is the unionization push a buried lede when the unionization push is in the story's lede