Garden leave, or gardening leave, is leave that an employer imposes on an employee so that they remain at home on full pay and contractual benefits till the end of their notice period. The employee should be always available for work. All terms and conditions of employment apply on garden leave. It is usually instigated when an employee has resigned or the employer has terminated employment giving notice. Here we provide some tips on how to manage garden leave.
The practice of garden leave can help prevent an employee doing damage to an organisation when their employment is ending. They may have access to sensitive or confidential material that needs protecting. They may also have access to customers. Contact with colleagues might cause problems. Removing an employee from the workplace will prevent damage being done if they are aggrieved. Garden leave is often used in disciplinary situations whilst an investigation is being completed or when managing redundancy.
The term garden leave came from the British Civil Service where employees had the right to leave for exceptional circumstances.
During garden leave an employee must not work for another employer and may be required to return to work. They can also be assigned duties that are not usually carried out by them.
An employer must provide specific written instructions to the employee about what they can and can not do during garden leave.
In order to send an employee home on garden leave, there must be an express clause in the employment contract or a policy in the employee handbook. If there is no provision for garden leave in employment documents and it is imposed on an employee, there is a small risk of breach of contract. The clause can be linked to a restrictive covenant to prevent an employee working with a competitor or setting up in competition.