Staff who are given notice of termination may not be the most motivated to continue to work. Whether they have resigned or you have dismissed them you may want to use Garden Leave. So what is Garden Leave?
You can only use Garden Leave if its in their written terms and conditions. Without this there is the risk that the employee will allege you are in breach of your contract and claim constructive dismissal.
Putting the clause into most written statements of terms and conditions is considered standard practice in the industry, for many employee you will never wish to use Garden Leave but if anticipated in advance its always better.
Garden Leave is ideal if you may need to contact the staff member about something work related i.e. where is the shed key? or if you do not want them to start their new job with the competition until the end of their notice period.
They can request to take holiday in Garden Leave and a reasonable employer would grant this. After all it means the holiday accrued and untaken doesn’t need to be paid in the final pay.
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