| 释义 |
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 the workplace. Such clauses are used by employers wishing to safeguard trade secrets or, more importantly, to prevent a highly skilled employee from leaving and immediately undertaking work for a rival firm. An employee wishing to leave could be required to serve “garden leave” 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. Employers see the use of such clauses as an expensive but generally reliable alternative to traditional restraint of trade clauses. These clauses may be enforced by way of injunction without encountering some of the difficulties that arise with respect to restraint of trade clauses, which are notoriously difficult to draft and enforce. It is possible, however, that the court will refuse to enforce a garden leave clause (William Hill Organization v Tucker [1998] IRLR 313 (CA)). Conversely, an employer may place an employee on garden leave where it is proven necessary, even though the employee’s contract does not contain such a clause (Christie v Carmichael [2010] IRLR 1016 (EAT) (Scot)). |