I think this bullshit is more prevalent today than in the past. Companies found more loopholes to go around (for example unlimited vacations[1]), the worker protections aren’t enforced as strictly.

I believe this phenomenon is likely US specific.

[1] unlimited vacations look great on paper, but with them the company no longer needs to track of 2 weeks of vacations, so they no longer need to pay them when you leave the company and not used them and also doesn’t have to force you to use it. The peer pressure makes you unlikely to take more anyway to not look like a slacker.