HRD & Payroll Solutions continues to bring HR Zone members a range of HR tips. This week’s tip looks at garden leave.
Q: What is “garden leave” and is it lawful?
A: Ordinarily if you give notice to an employee, he or she continues to work throughout the notice period in the normal way and leaves when it ends. However, you may for any one of a number of reasons prefer that the employee does not attend work. If, therefore, you tell the employee to stay at home but remain in your employment, that is commonly known as “garden leave” – for obvious reasons.
However, during that time you must continue to pay the employee in the normal way and provide all the benefits of the contract such as private use of the company car.
Often employees who are thought would represent a threat or an embarrassment if they came to work whilst under notice are given pay in lieu of notice and told to leave right away.
The advantage of garden leave is that the employee is prevented from going to work for a competitor during notice and remains bound by all the terms of the employment contract including any post-employment restrictive covenants.
Previous HR tips
Developing women managers
A promotion that failed
Fixing holidays
Holiday for temporary employees
A redundancy problem
Behaviour outside work
Suspension from work
Informing employees of new legislation
Deductions from wages
Children on site
Workplace affairs
Disabled workers
Attitude problems
Redundancy selection
Custom and practice
Working Bank holidays
Disciplinary and dismissal procedures
Time off work for funerals
References
Translating rules
Banning smoking at work
Burden of proof
Contracts of employment
