At my current job, I've been forced to use my paid vacation hours to cover days where I was simply not “allowed” to come into work. These events include shutdowns due to fire/inclement weather, power outages, and one point where someone fucked up the supply chain internally and we only had four working days for a few weeks.
We're forced to go unpaid despite being full time employees – “but you can use your vacation time if you want to.” (You're only allowed to plan future vacation days if you have paid hours available, but I digress.. then again, it is relevant to say we should not have to choose between paying rent this month and taking a day of rest later on.)
Is there a name/verbiage for this practice? It is extremely unfair in my opinion. You could say that it's only fair to get paid for the hours you have worked, but to that I'd reply: a day where I've woken up, prepared and commuted for work only to be turned away is not a “vacation day,” nor is one where we are evacuating from fires or locked in without power because of ice storms. “Vacation days” ought to be days that I have planned at my own goddamn discretion, and deserve legal recognition as such… it is unconscionable to think that workers should be forced to eat them.