The problem is that the author's job was already pretty far down the "fire certain types of work" pipeline. By his own account, he was writing 1 column every 3

The problem is that the author's job was already pretty far down the "fire certain types of work" pipeline. By his own account, he was writing 1 column every 3 weeks, for an unprofitable magazine, as a freelancer with no formal employment relationship. If they'd been responsible in the way you're wishing for, they would have never hired him at all, knowing they don't have the money to treat him as a valued employee.