Choosing "exempt" is the proffered carrot in the system to make you feel like you're doing something. u/gc_2024

It's voluntary for the workplace too. They are afraid, with understandable reason, to come out and admit they're not an "employer" and you're not an "employee". Therefore those they "employ" (French for "enslave") have few options and must be creative. If you can get treated as an independent contractor then you're responsible for your own taxes, and this can be sold to the workplace sometimes because it saves them the 7.65% "employer" tax.

For more details, go into the rabbit hole of the definitions of the law and how one corrects incorrect information returns.