21st March 2006, 11:35 PM
"Garden Leave" is not what is described by Muddy above. Garden leave is when a employee is told not to attend work during a notice period. The employer is still obliged to pay the employee for the full notice period and the employee is still available to work for the employer if the employer requests they attend. Garden leave can be used for a variety of reasons but is most often used to prevent employees working for rival companies during the notice period, divulging information about the company to a new employer etc.
What Muddy describes is more like a "Zero-Hours Contract" where the employee is on the employers books but only works and only gets paid for any hours actually worked. Sometimes they could be working full time, other times they may work a few hours a week, sometimes no work at all. How this affects Job Seekers Allowance or other benefits I am not sure. For Job Seeker's allowance you must be available for work, which may be a problem if you are on Zero Hours with an employer and could be called to work for them at any time.
What Muddy describes is more like a "Zero-Hours Contract" where the employee is on the employers books but only works and only gets paid for any hours actually worked. Sometimes they could be working full time, other times they may work a few hours a week, sometimes no work at all. How this affects Job Seekers Allowance or other benefits I am not sure. For Job Seeker's allowance you must be available for work, which may be a problem if you are on Zero Hours with an employer and could be called to work for them at any time.