Garden Leave

It is the term used for an employment type where the employee has been dismissed or has resigned but is required to serve without physical presence at work during the notice period.

Such leave is used as a measure to avert the leaving employee from having access to sensitive information (or data), that can be useful to the competitor.

This allows the employer to lawfully restrict the entry of the employee into the office premises during the notice period, although, the rights and duties like remaining available for work during the normal working hours, receiving salary, benefits, and bonus, and the responsibility of confidentiality and act in good faith continue as the other contractual and statutory rights remain intact. 

Mainly, gardening leave prevents the worker from undertaking specific jobs or attending official meetings. The employee is denied access to customers, commodity trader advisors, global investment partners, suppliers, clients, and others connected to the organization. They are not allowed to publicly make a statement about their employer.

They may need to take outstanding leave sanctioned in such conditions and they cannot take up another job without getting officially relieved from the current position.

There are other conditions where the employer places the employee on such leave without the express entitlement to do so, in such cases the court can consider whether the employee has a  contractual right to work or not. Also, the company can use different clauses to invoke or give the rights to bonuses or other benefits.