gardening leave

British

noun

informal a period during which an employee who is about to leave a company continues to receive a salary but does not work

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In terms of the Government's difficulties over the run up to this Budget, Mr Hughes may also take some important details of the timing of various claims around the state of the public finances to his gardening leave.

From BBC

He is currently working out a period of gardening leave after agreeing his terms of departure from the Milton Keynes team and has been linked to Aston Martin and Haas among others.

From Barron's

His latest campaign ended with him on gardening leave after the Hoops suffered a 5-0 defeat by already-promoted Burnley in April.

From BBC

The 53-year-old officially joined the club on 1 July after spending five months on gardening leave at Newcastle.

From BBC

In the end, United paid £10m for Ashworth, who ended up on gardening leave for the same amount of time he was actually in post at United.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023