>This means your government has codified into law the false idea that all human employees are undifferentiated commodities (like cattle). So as an employer

If layoffs only affected "underperformers" you may have a point. laying off 6% of your workforce despite a profitable year betrays the basic idea of "underperforming".

All that aside, if your worst employee is still generating a profit for the company then there's little ground to say they are "underperforming".