So to the legality question, but please understand IANAL, the short answer is no it is not illegal, at least in the US. Regardless of whether you are a salarie

So to the legality question, but please understand IANAL, the short answer is no it is not illegal, at least in the US. Regardless of whether you are a salaried worker or hourly, it is legal as long as you are compensated for the time. Are there limits, sure and they vary based on your exempt status. e.g. a Salaried worker isn't entitled to overtime, unless certain conditions are met or violations present (certain states have some varying rules too). Hourly workers it is actually easier, you are paid OT for hours exceeding your normal FT schedule, in the US that generally assumes 40 hours a week. In the end, if the company requires it for your position you are on the hook to show up and do the work. There are some state and federal rules, but in general if you are compensated then they can ask you to do whatever. You can vote with your feet and walk, but outside of that there isn't a huge amount you can do to change it other then making sure shit doesn't break. I ran a 24/7 shop that handled 911 calls and fire/ems dispatching, we started with 2 people (including me) and grew from there. We all shared call duties monthly, splitting it into the smallest increments that made sense. The reality is we all cared and all busted ass to make sure shit didn't break, and when it did we fixed it and took it personally. It wasn't just about the people reporting the issue, it was for our own sanity.