no they can not
Answer:
Certainly. There are many examples:
No. By law no employer can force you to work at all, especially without payment.
No US employer can ever compel you to work for free. ALL work, without exception, must be paid. The employer can change your schedule, but must pay for your work.
Yes, your employer can deny you a day off. They generally schedule their employees based on the needs of their business.
You get off from work in order to attend court, but your employer does not have to pay you for the lost time.
Yes they have that right, but you also have a right to turn them down if they asking you to come in to work, the Texas work law states that the employer have to call of inform you within 24 hours of your off day.
to the best of my knowledge
An employer does not have to pay a full time employee if there is no work. The employer can lay off the employee. It happens all the time. Sometimes when there is no work, the employer keeps the full time employees working doing maintenance work so that he will have a trained staff when business picks up. Sometimes he has them take a paid vacation when there is no work so they will be back when there is work. Sometimes he just lays them off, at which point they stop being employees and are not paid.
the employer alone sets and changes your schedule, and must pay you for all days worked.
Yes you CAN, but if you become more sick or become injured because an employer FORCED you to work while you have been 'signed off', then your employer is liable BIG TIME. If you signed a legal waiver and chose to work while being 'signed off' then the consequences would be your problem.
No, but a good question to the parental leave act.
An employer can change your schedule for any reason, and you work the schedule set by the employer.
Absolutely. It's not your employer's responsibility to see that your kids get to school, it's yours. You have a lot of options open to you other than leaving work, and you need to work with those. For instance, you can drop your kids off at a day care on your way to work, and the day care will transport them to school (and pick them up). Your employer hired you to be at work between certain hours, and their interest is that you are at work. If you cannot fulfill your agreement with your employer to be there when you're paid to be there, you need to find another job.