[Xylakant]

Not in germany. The law mandates ab absolute maximum of 10 hours a day, 10 hours break between shifts and max 60 hours a week unless there's some case of emergency. These already are the extended hours, that are only possible if the overtime can be taken off within a reasonable timeframe. The regular work-hours are 6 days of 8 hours. The employer is legally responsible that these limits are enforced.

[growse]

Did not know. Stand corrected. Seems this is UK-only. Wonder if there's a difference between a worker being salaried vs paid per hour?

[Xylakant]

No. There's a difference between employed workers where the regulations apply and freelancers that can actually do whatever they want. Actually if my employee were to accept a side-job he'd have to report it to me so that I can check he's not going over the 60 hours limit.

Interesting enough some companies start to recognize that long hours don't get them as much value as they thought. I know of a case where a pretty large enterprise customer has a "max 8 hours a day" clause for subcontractors and freelancers.