I was told to suck it up and do at least 50+ hours (35h paid) when working at temps over 42c (110f). Both are illegal here, they don't care, they will always find a poor sucker in a dire situation needing the job.
Companies will be fined for this kind of environment and the office will be closed if things aren’t improved. You can’t choose to not care.
It's all a matter of priorities.
If caring means you lose your job, yeah, you're not gonna care.
And losing your job in the USA means: hunger, homelessness, no internet, less chance of being hired with unemployment record, assumption that you did something terrible, low/no medical, etc.
For many, especially those whom can't save a nest egg of appreciable value (6 months out of work kind), then it's better to STFU, apply elsewhere, and THEN make complaints.
But even in the US I would assume that companies aren’t just allowed to break the laws regarding work environment. Isn’t there some control visits, some way of reporting a company?
We have a legal system that greatly benefits rich people (companies are legally people).
Unions have the lowest numbers in our history.
Laws in different states like "Right to work" and similar kneecap workers rights.
And worst is the "gig work" which pays sub-minimum wage of 7.25$/hr or $2.35 for restaurant server work (and the min wage hasnt increased since 2009).
But if you're in software, it's a good life. Usually.
If your name comes out, you might just loose your job, and most people in that situation aren't going to be able to pursue legal action regarding retaliation or the like unless they get lucky finding the right lawyer. Or, you could potentially cause the company to go under/get shut down (rightly so) which equally leaves you seeking a new job.
HOWEVER in many states, and the further republican/red it is, the more onerous it is to be granted it. It'd be a whole different story if it were really employment insurance". Much of the time, it's "unemployment insurance after 6-12 weeks if the systems to register you actually work, and you arent excluded for inane reasons, and you aren't later excluded for $reasons". And hope you can survive on what you have currently in the bank for the SLOW state procedures to give you a ruling.
Turns out, the state doesn't want to pay out just as much as insurance companies don't want to pay out.
And to counter your narrative, I've seen the state point at unemployed people the local state park as a temp job. When they took it (else they lost benefits), the temp job ended and were excluded from filing for unemployment since they knowingly took a temp job.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-states-unemployment-insu...
For example, an employer can slowly ratchet up requirements at work to the point where they can document an employee is not performing, terminate them, and the employee is not eligible for unemployment benefits. (This benefits the employer by keeping their unemployment insurance premiums low).
Also, unemployment benefit amounts vary greatly by state. They are a pittance in the vast majority of the states, especially if you consider most people don't have the cheapest possible lease/mortgage, and they can't just move out of where they live the week after they are terminated.
https://savingtoinvest.com/maximum-weekly-unemployment-benef...
There was a temporary supplement of unemployment benefits by the federal government due to COVID, but that is exceptional, and those are gone now.
Also, the process is the punishment. You should talk to people who had issues or who aren't proficient with the online applications how much of a pain it is to resolve issues with unemployment benefits over the past year. You have to call the minute the office opens up in the morning, and if you don't get in the hold queue immediately, you are told to call again the next day by the automated message. I know for a fact that this is still happening today, a year+ since COVID started.
Edit: I just tried Washington state's unemployment phone call line (open 8AM to 4PM). It's 9:07AM, and after 2m20s of various prompts on the phone, you are informed that "All agents are currently busy, call back at a later time". So imagine you have kids to take care of, jobs to look for, and you have to spend your time repeatedly calling the phone number, wait 2m20s each time to be told to call later. Your only chance is really to call at 7:59AM and hope you get through to the hold queue. If not, then your benefits are delayed one more day and you try the next day. As an American, it's embarrassing to me.
Obviously Covid is an extreme special case at the division of unemployment
And a large employer will be deterred by lawsuits, but smaller employers might have nothing to lose and/or the employees will be low wage and not in a position to deal with lawsuits and whatnot and have bigger things to worry about.
https://blog.dol.gov/2021/01/11/unemployment-benefits-answer...
Additionally, in most states you petition for unemployment and then generally have to prove you are eligible. All it takes is one spiteful manager to create a paper trail that you were let go with cause, and in most jurisdictions renders you ineligible. Then it becomes your word against theirs unless you have your own proof to fight back with.
As for low level... I guess you have never lived in smaller cities/towns in Europe then. People know each other and afford those they know “courtesy” of a heads up. Word spreads, etc. From there, you are only one step away from someone retaliating against you. The kicker is that those involved might not even really understand this to be somewhat corrupt behavior.
I hope you left that shithole company and glassdoored their management hard.
I hope you meant reported to regulators