Accrued holidays and gardening leave

db570uk

Hi Everyone,
I have an employment contract (yet to sign) that mentioned I will lose any accrued holidays if I am put on paid gardening leave. HR have confirmed I will not be paid for any accrued holidays and the accrued holidays are deemed as taken if I was put on gardening leave. Seems a bit unfair? Is this normal/acceptable or should I look to try to negotiate this? I am not sure if this is a standard clause or company thing?

Grateful for people's thoughts/experiences on this

Comms69

How is it unfair? You will be in effect on annual leave for the duration of your gardening leave.

TELLIT01

Comms69 wrote: »

How is it unfair? You will be in effect on annual leave for the duration of your gardening leave.

Not true. With 'garden leave' they can call you back in at any time. You are not free just to go where you want, when you want.

Undervalued

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Not true. With 'garden leave' they can call you back in at any time. You are not free just to go where you want, when you want.

Yes, you are right however it is very easy for the firm to get round the issue.

Suppose you have two weeks holiday owing when they want to put you on a month's "garden leave" to cover your notice period. Remember an employer can dictate when you must take holiday just by giving the required (minimal) notice.

So they say " Two days garden leave, two days annual leave, two days garden, two days annual etc etc!

OK, they can't theoretically call you back in during the two day annual bits but you can't go away for a week either as you have to be instantly available for the garden leave periods!

Be careful what you wish for!

db570uk

I have a 1 week notice period in my probationary period
and I think it is a months notice thereafter. When I mentioned unfair I was talking about if the company gave me gardening leave during the probationary period. I guess I would be best taking all my leave accrued before the end of the probationary period in case that doesn't go well

Whether a week or a months notice, shouldnt you be paid for any untaken accrued leave and as well as your whole notice period Isn't that the norm. Apologies if it isn't.

Undervalued

db570uk wrote: »

I have a 1 week notice period in my probationary period
and I think it is a months notice thereafter. When I mentioned unfair I was talking about if the company gave me gardening leave during the probationary period. I guess I would be best taking all my leave accrued before the end of the probationary period in case that doesn't go well

Whether a week or a months notice, shouldnt you be paid for any untaken accrued leave and as well as your whole notice period Isn't that the norm. Apologies if it isn't.

No, as I indicated earlier your employer can almost totally dictate when you can and cannot take your holiday. So, with very few limits they can direct you to use up any holiday during the notice period. If they don't want you on the premises they can then give garden leave for any remaining time not covered by holiday.

If however they wanted you to work your notice, then they have to pay you for any outstanding holiday after you leave.

You still accrue holiday during your notice period, whether on garden leave, annual leave or working. So, during a month's notice you would accrue roughly two days holiday.

getmore4less

Undervalued wrote: »

Yes, you are right however it is very easy for the firm to get round the issue.

Suppose you have two weeks holiday owing when they want to put you on a month's "garden leave" to cover your notice period. Remember an employer can dictate when you must take holiday just by giving the required (minimal) notice.

So they say " Two days garden leave, two days annual leave, two days garden, two days annual etc etc!

OK, they can't theoretically call you back in during the two day annual bits but you can't go away for a week either as you have to be instantly available for the garden leave periods!

Be careful what you wish for!

The statutory min notice can be overridden by contract

if a contract includes clauses like this one that says holiday must be taken during garden leave then there is no need for further notice.

As long as there are enough days left to cover the accrued unused holidays, if not any surplus needs paying.

Many contracts override the statutory notice with a "holidays must be approved" clause.

getmore4less

db570uk wrote: »

I have a 1 week notice period in my probationary period
and I think it is a months notice thereafter. When I mentioned unfair I was talking about if the company gave me gardening leave during the probationary period. I guess I would be best taking all my leave accrued before the end of the probationary period in case that doesn't go well

Whether a week or a months notice, shouldnt you be paid for any untaken accrued leave and as well as your whole notice period Isn't that the norm. Apologies if it isn't.

Don't get garden leave and PILON mixed up.