Serving Notice Garden Leave

[Davies123]

Hello I hope you can help me or point me in the right direction as my employer is being unfair. I resigned and my contract states I have to give i 12months notice and will either they will make me serve / work the notice period or be put on garden leave. From the date of my resignation I have been asked to work my notice, " I am the first person in the organisation that has been asked to do this - everybody else has been put on garden leave for the 6/
12 month period etc. On my first day of turning up from work, I was escorted to the back office away from everyone else with no phone or PC and asked to seat in the office with nothing to do, and told I was not free to walk around the site anymore this has caused me to start having terrible stress and anxiety. On the 2nd day i fought to i get a PC and a phone, but now have them with very limited access to the system I cannot price jobs or speak to suppliers making me useless as my role is a Sales function, when I speak to customers on the phone they have told me they have been advised by my other colleagues that I no longer work for the organisation. All my emails incoming and outgoing are copied to go to a colleague looking and dealing with them aswell, what are your thoughts and suggestions please.

I would turn up with my own laptop and watch netflix all day.. Tossers

Get signed off sick with stress and anxiety. And seek legal advice.

12 months notice?crikey.

12 month notice? Bloody hell. Netflix, books, knitting or just learn a new language?

Grievance with aim for compromise agreement with an agreed reference.

12 months notice is a long time! If you're going to another job it surprises me they'd wait that long for you to start?! Why is your notice period so long? Xx

Plus how can they ask you to work your notice then not give you any work to do?

i dont think i would turn up. what can they do? sack you???

If they want you to work, then you should be able to work i.e. With suitable equipment and job description. If they have changed the terms of your job with no discussion etc then you may be able to argue constructive dismissal.

Are you in a Union? Or can you access legal advice via your house insurance? You really must seek advice from an employment lawyer....

Do you have a new job? What would happen if you said "my last day is x (say 8 weeks time for example) and stopped going in after this time? Where I work we have 3 months notice but often people say they are leaving in 4 weeks and we don't sue them or anything. This would only work if you had another job of course

Raise a greivance, you're still employed and are being treated very badly. 12m notice is very unusual if not a CEO/similar level position.

Document everything,you could potentially just walk without serving your full notice, technically they could sue for breach of contract but only if your leaving early costs the business money in some form, which it clearly won't if you have nothing to do.

Sounds like they are just being bloody minded, is it a blow to them that you are leaving?

Not technically true regarding job description I believe, they prob have a clause stating if on garden leave any other duties can be assigned as long as they are within the employees skill set. They could get someone filing 8 hours a day for a year without needing to provide a new jd or consult with the employee.

If on notice not garden leave ffs

Actually, thinking on that, it was my old boss that did this to someone leaving and I never questioned it but now I have a brain worm saying it might not be ok re alt duties even if there is a clause which there were in our contracts. Can't find anything on line but might not be using the right search terms, happy to be corrected if anyone knows? (Am slight embarassed i dont know 100% )

I would say 12 months notice is ridiculous, are you sure that is correct - it is not reasonable and no new employer will wait that long for a new employee. I would say their actions have breached the fundamentals of your contract, namely trust and confidence, thereby pitentially ither aspects of your contract unenforceable. I agree with others, put in a grievance and seek a settlement agreement to leave earlier, surely that is in everyone's interests!

Do they actually expect you to sit in the room 40 hours a week for a year?
What has happened previously?
I also doubt they've been paying people to sit at home for a year either!
I'm guessing most people get a lawyer and make a compromise agreement?

You can claim constructive dismissal.

One of the reasons someone is usually on 12 months' notice is because of their skill set or their importance to the organisation.

The same happened to my husband. Everyone who had left prior to him at his level was placed on garden leave whilst they negotiated a compromise settlement. they told him he would need to work and took his phone, laptop, pc etc. He carried on turning up to board meetings etc and told them he was going to claim constructive dismissal. Within 2 days he was at home, within a month a compromise agreement was agreed and the next day he started with his new employer.

It is never good for the employer to insist on keeping people in the office as they can spread negative vibes, get details of clients and so on.

Suggest to them that unless they provide you with relevant work then you will be going home and claiming constructive dismissal. Keep your next employer (assuming there is one) aware of what is going on.

Luckily my Dh was in a field in which he was well known (and considered to be a leader ) in his field and therefore references were of little importance.

Just don't turn up
What can they do?
Sack you? You've already resigned
12 months notice is unreasonable
Definitely speak to ACAS