If it is an LLC, then each employee would have to be a member to exercise control and have the legal standing to request profits from the company. An LLC does NOT have a requirement to maximize shareholder profit because there are no shareholders, just members. An LLC has a max number of members and members are required to maintain their portion of tax liability (this means they will owe a % of tax due or receive a % of tax refunds). This overwhelmingly means employees are NOT part of the LLC, as all it would take is one employee not paying their taxes for the entire LLC to be at risk (also this is why investors will run like the wind from an LLC raising money). An LLC CAN have an employment contract where they offer paper shares, which can translate to profit sharing but they are called paper shares because they are unsecured debts and are literally worth nothing in the event of bankruptcy.
They could be a C corp (could also be an S corp but that comes with a 100 share holder limit), but then they have a duty to maximize profit to the shareholders. In a private corporation, the shareholders may be less inclined to sue, but the option is still there and as such the CEO must work to ensure the company is profitable. If they decide to share all profits with the employees, and the employees are majority shareholders, then this likely falls within the sphere of maximize profits.
There are things like a publicly-traded LLP which allows employees to own a portion of the company while offloading tax liabilities to the shareholder, but that is usually limited to companies which depend on depleting natural resources (think oil, gas, coal, lithium, etc)
Any multi-party LLC I've been part of, and it's been more than a few, has provisions about tax liabilities and allowed the LLC to forcefully pay them. Additionally, LLCs rules would control equity holde payouts, and provisions around equity liquidation.
LLC rules do not apply during bankruptcy. Equity holders are unsecured in bankruptcy, employee salaries and secured debts have a higher priority.
You can have provisions about tax liabilities, but that is a specific risk that must be mitigated in an LLC that a corporation does not have to deal with, thus it’s an added risk
They could be a C corp (could also be an S corp but that comes with a 100 share holder limit), but then they have a duty to maximize profit to the shareholders. In a private corporation, the shareholders may be less inclined to sue, but the option is still there and as such the CEO must work to ensure the company is profitable. If they decide to share all profits with the employees, and the employees are majority shareholders, then this likely falls within the sphere of maximize profits.
There are things like a publicly-traded LLP which allows employees to own a portion of the company while offloading tax liabilities to the shareholder, but that is usually limited to companies which depend on depleting natural resources (think oil, gas, coal, lithium, etc)