Garden Leave Clause in United Kingdom

Definition of Garden Leave Clause

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Garden Leave Clause : A clause in an employment contract that provides for a long period of notice by the employer, during which the employee will be remunerated in full but will not be required to attend at the workplace. The use of such clauses is increasing by employers wishing to safeguard trade secrets or, more Importantly, prevent a highly skilled employee from leaving to undertake work for a rival firm. An employee wishing to leave, or one who has been head-hunted, could be required to serve ‘garden leave’ for a period of up to one year in order to lawfully terminate his existing contract. Throughout the period of garden leave an employee will be subject to all the normal contractual restraints. Management sees the use of such clauses as an expensive, but reliable and enforceable, alternative to traditional *restraint of trade clauses. Moreover, these clauses may be enforced by way of injunction without encountering the difficulties that arise with respect to restraint of trade clauses, which are notoriously difficult to draft and enforce.