[chrisseaton]

That's not how it works.. and that's the law... because it's not reasonable for some people to not respond out of hours.

Applies for ordinary people as well - such as soldiers and police who are liable for recall at any time.

[notreallytrue]

> soldiers

In my country they have 28 days of paid holidays every year

Ant it's still one of the few jobs left where they can retire after 15 years, 6 months, one day of work

> Police

In my country they have 28 days of paid holidays, 35 hours a week contract

In my country there are 1/10 of the homicides per 100 thousands people of the US

[chrisseaton]

And (I presume, don't know what country you're in) they're both legally liable to be recalled from leave? That was my point - not what their retirement ages is.

[ciceryadam]

In Czech Republic everyone could be recalled from work, but the law limits it to "serious sudden operational circumstances, the solution of which is tied to the employee taking the leave". However if they recall you (or they cancel your holiday after it's been approved), you have to be compensated for whatever monetary loss you suffered from this.

[notreallytrue]

There are jobs where you have to provide the service, it's a crime to interrupt it for futile reasons.

They are not liable if they don't go to work on their free time, ever.

Healthcare, public transportation, firemen, etc. they can't not provide the service, it's called (sorry the bad translation) "interruption of public service"

Yes, they can be re-called on duty, but it happens rarely.

They are payed extra time if that happens (sometimes the hourly pay is double of the regular one)

Soldiers can't even be sent on a war mission if they don't volunteer to it.

They usually do because the pay is astronomical (4-5 times the regular one, sometimes more)

But they are not supposed to.

They can still not show if they have reason: in this 2020 for example being COVID positive or simply sick.

It happened the opposite this year, many doctors and nurses volunteered to help.

They are employees of the State after all and they serve the public.

In the private sector you have to be compensated for working extra hours, if they don't, the employers are liable.

If they ask you to work on your free time, a judge could (and usually does) condemn the employer and the employee gets a compensation.

My parents worked for the national healthcare and when my mom was expecting me, she discovered she had a condition that caused two previous miscarriages.

My parents worked shift of 12 hours 5 days straight, they assumed it was too taxing on the body of a pregnant woman with a condition, so between me and my sister the hospital put her on paid sick leave for 36 months.

My country is Italy, our salaries are lower than countries like US where such protections don't exist, but at least we are protected from abuses (they still happen of course, but it's a risk for the employer)

One of the benefit of the system is that people know they have rights and will stand up for them

If you accept to work gratis in your free time, you're doing a disservice to the entire category.

Of course there are people abusing of these rights, but in general it's a good tradeoff that benefits the larger population instead of rewarding only the workaholics.

And don't even get me started on why being a workaholic society is bad for those who can't work more because they are not in good health or worse...