tbh given Joe's narcissism and sociopathy I'd bet there a chance this was all a plan.
He wants Rory and Mal to be salaried employees, so he can bully and abuse without any recourse from them so he
- sneak diss and needle rory for months
- when he strikes back use that as an excuse to get him off the pod,
- needle mal, until he doesn't want to show by telling him the show is "none of his business"
- ice and ish in and to show them they are replaceable
best case rory and mal need to accept being salaried employees on the next contract,
worst case fire them and replace them ice and ish and use that controversy to jump start the pod with them as replacements.