We have a Herculean task to educate workers of their rights (as free human beings) and to educate managers about the limits of their power (they do not own you)
Management: The arrival time of any human for any activity is a random variable (whether they are doctors, or pilots, or burger flippers). It’s up to management to understand their workforce, incentivize their workforce, and plan accordingly. If a gap in coverage is really bad then you MUST schedule overlapping shifts. YOU MAY NOT demand early unpaid arrival in order to avoid gaps in coverage or fail to pay time worked as punishment. That is a demand for unpaid labor. If a worker is late too often you can fire them – that is your only recourse.
Workers: you NEVER need to provide any info about why you want a day off. The reason why is 100% irrelevant and none of their business. It could be for surgery or because you just want a day free…. It’s none of their business.
If you are expected to be available at any time then you should be getting on call pay for every hour you can be called in – every hour you are expected to be available for call-in. whether you work or not.
Workers: you provide your general availability. If that doesn’t suit them then negotiate some alternative or move on.
Any deviations can be REQUESTED by either party. But a permanent change requires renegotiation.
Management can make requests for holiday or off hour work…. But demands are unacceptable and indicate management is confused about whether you are their property or not.
Holiday or off availability work require pay at higher rate.
Edit:typo