You're absolutely right that this is a choice-- they choose to exploit and oppress when they could do otherwise, and I further articulate in the piece on my website that regardless of legal or not, the incentives and the structure are what matter-- the fact that they choose this is what matters.
Someone else in this thread brought up something similar, especially regarding the shareholders. Instead of rehashing, I'll link you to my reply to them:
https://chaosfem.tw/@revoluciana/114201244997501824