It’s CYA. Whenever money is involved that’s just a reality.

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If this is the hill you want to die on, first ask yourself if you’re really dying on the hill you think you’re dying on?
What you received is standard practices now in Human Resources and other corporate practices such as grant funding and such.

Here’s an article from 2019 – 3 years ago. It’s now 2022. It was already becoming standard then