I have been trying to find a word to describe someone who routinely abuses their workers, and perhaps even more than that, scorns them and sees them as inferior. My first guess was despot but I think that is more routinely used within the context of political leaders.
I appreciate any feedback.
A slave driver (informal)
someone who makes another person work very hard with little or no help or remuneration.
You could use
taskmaster [noun]
a person who imposes a harsh or onerous workload on someone.
- "he was a hard taskmaster"
[Lexico]
There is a related question here, What is a word for someone who likes bossing people around?, where you will find martinet / despot / tyrant / harridan / battleax ... more scathing, but these aren't largely confined to the corporate arena.
Suitable candidates might be "user" or "exploiter" or even simply "abuser."
Others include "bully" and "dictator" as well as "martinet" and "little Napoleon."
I suggest there is no recognised single word, nor phrase for what you've described so far.
Can you say in much more detail how the workers are being abused, and for what reason?
Another term (though probably not as well understood in a politically correct era, is: "Simon Legree."
…the brutal Simon Legree, Tom’s new owner, has Tom whipped to death after he refuses to divulge the whereabouts of certain escaped slaves.
From Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Simon Legree (n.)
A tyrannical, brutal slave-owner. Later usually in weakened use: an exacting, merciless taskmaster. Lexico, OED
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 June iii. 10/4 I had one boss early in my career who was very bright but would lose his temper... My job was to be the buffer between that Simon Legree and the rest of the troops. (OED)
Any cruel taskmaster. Webster's New World Dictionary, Third ed.
A brutal taskmaster. AHD
American trade-unions are rendering a useful service to freedom in their campaign of telling European trade-unions the trust about Soviet Working conditions. As an additional service, it is suggested that American unions distribute translations, without comment, of Russia's incredibly cruel labor laws, with her Simon Legree penalties for petty infractions. "The dictatorship of the proletariat" is the dictatorship over the proletariat. Peter Viereck; Shame and Glory of the Intellectuals (2017)
The reason the staff feels – quite rightly – I am a Simon Legree is first, because the opposition when I came down here was such that I had to be hard to get anywhere with an eastern staff annoyed at the idea of a westerner coming in; second, because ... J.F.B. Livesay in Gene Allen; Making National News (2014)
“You've Got the Word” No one likes to be Simon Legree, but all I could say is: “You've got the word now. Todd Ream; Hesburgh of Notre Dame (2021)
Uncle Tom's Cabin gave U.S. culture a series of characters—some would say stereotypes—that became household names over the following century: ... Simon Legree, the slavetrader whose very name became a virtual synonym for calculating, heartless evil; ... Jim Cullen; The Art of Democracy (2002)
Then when we got it down to 3.8 percent or 3.7 percent, I went in to report to this arm twister, this taskmaster, this Simon Legree, and his answer was, “3.7 percent where?” And we said, “In the country." Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO (1967)
