If you target specific people, even if they do garbage work, somebody somewhere will find something to sue you over. If you do a less targeted layoff, you'll hit some of that target group anyway, and some will leave over their own volition after. Yeah you'll lose some good people but the whole point of this charade is that in management's eyes the engineers and knowledge workers are cogs in a machine, so collateral damage is okay and it'll all come out in the wash over the next few years with new hires.
If you target specific people, even if they do garbage work, somebody somewhere will find something to sue you over. If you do a less targeted layoff, you'll hit some of that target group anyway, and some will leave over their own volition after. Yeah you'll lose some good people but the whole point of this charade is that in management's eyes the engineers and knowledge workers are cogs in a machine, so collateral damage is okay and it'll all come out in the wash over the next few years with new hires.