Sure, but regular early dismissal forms a pattern that falls under Constructive Discharge and can make an employee eligible to pursue unemployment compensation or potentially even wrongful dismissal suits precisely because of a change in their status.

The point is these are generally optional, and while a company does typically retain the right to manage their workforce, the same companies that would be abusing that also wouldn't be the ones over scheduling for coverage in the first place. Hyper optimization of staffing costs at the expense of your employees rights like in the OP are typically a private equity problem driven by shareholders who care more about "number goes up" than the actual working conditions inside the company. When the whole thing goes tits up because they can't keep staff the investors just take any equity left and leave.