Are we suddenly counting people who show up and only give a partial effort? I am not sure you are prepared for how deep this rabbit hole goes.

So I guess all those companies paying for 40 hours and getting 50 or 60 should be charged charged with fraud?

If your employer expects you to work 50 or 60 hours while only paying you for 40 hours then that is indeed also illegal.

I take it you've never had a salary pay job in America. One of my recent jobs had me working 100 hours per week for $130k (base salary). Every job I've ever had expected overtime without extra pay. One job had me working through every holiday without bonus. I've had some shitty jobs, but it wasn't illegal for them to demand this out of me.

For anyone working crazy hours and getting paid salary while having zero sense of control, it's worth checking if you're misclassified as exempt:

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/exempt-and-a-non-exempt-empl...

If you work with computers, or are above 100k and any part of the job is executive, administrative, or professional, you're probably not, though.

have looked into this for myself and i'm definitely exempt from being paid overtime.

i now take these unreasonable demands as a sign that the employer wants me to quit.

My contract says that I'm expected to work Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm with a one hour lunch break (so 40 hours) but it also has some vague, ambiguous language about "occasionally" working "additional hours" as business demands it. So they can make me work 50-60 hours in one week and it wouldn't breach my contract.

That assumes you are working 20 hours at each, plenty of people work 80+ hour weeks.