Gardening leave

[northernladyuk]

OK I think I've understood the nature of this forum now. A few normal friendly people and a few nasty troll types who just enjoy insulting people. l have managed quite well for 20+ years as a freelance contractor without dealing with a***holes on forums so I think this is a good time to leave. Hope you find a few other people to insult and mock - passes the time doesn't it and beats giving friendly advice.

You caught on quicker than most.

[jamesbrown]

OK I think I've understood the nature of this forum now. A few normal friendly people and a few nasty troll types who just enjoy insulting people. l have managed quite well for 20+ years as a freelance contractor without dealing with a***holes on forums so I think this is a good time to leave. Hope you find a few other people to insult and mock - passes the time doesn't it and beats giving friendly advice.

For someone that has been freelancing for 20+ years, you appear to know remarkably little about freelancing.

But feel free to flounce.

[northernladuk]

Blimey. jamesbrown chasing the newbies off. Whodathunkit.

[SueEllen]

For someone that has been freelancing for 20+ years, you appear to know remarkably little about freelancing.

But feel free to flounce.

We are suppose to be nice to him and agree with everything he says.

I actually thought he was a permanent employee so I was going to point out that you can get in trouble for defrauding companies as an employee if they find out.

[jamesbrown]

Blimey. jamesbrown chasing the newbies off. Whodathunkit.

I guess I hate dripfeeding almost as much as you.

[Lance]

We are suppose to be nice to him and agree with everything he says.

I actually thought he was a permanent employee so I was going to point out that you can get in trouble for defrauding companies as an employee if they find out.

precisely.

It's called gardening leave as the only work you can do is on your own garden.

[Hobosapien]

Technically he is a permie, with the umbrella. They are the ones you need to make sure will pay you for the first contract depending whether the second is also via them and if you can get timesheets sorted. Without the timesheets then gardening for no pay is likely.

[Willapp]

Here's a more friendly reply:

The confusion here is whether you've been put on "garden leave" by the end client, or by your Umbrella company? If it's the former then this seems like a red flag because as an independent service provider, the concept of garden leave doesn't really exist: you get paid for the work you do and that's it. No signed timesheet = no work done = no pay. That's the standard way contracting works. Yes there's a concept of a retainer in a B2B relationship but I don't think that's relevant here.

Garden leave as a concept is usually when a permanent employee gives notice to terminate their contract and their employer doesn't want them on site any more. However it's called garden leave because you're still legally employed by the company and could be called upon to attend meetings or work as normal at pretty short notice, so taking other paid employment during this time is risky at best, and may be in direct violation of your employment contract.

I don't think others are being intentionally harsh, but as this is a contractor forum, "garden leave" does sound like you're being treated like an employee, which would be a big concern from an IR35 perspective.

[Ebenezer]

When both are full time then how on earth can you fulfill two. You are blatantly ripping one off through greed. That's not good business.

Right, because no "Big 5" consulting firm ever billed the same consultant to two different clients simultaneously!

[SueEllen]

Right, because no "Big 5" consulting firm ever billed the same consultant to two different clients simultaneously!

The OP is working via an umbrella company so that argument is pointless.