Gardening leave

[Marc of Distinction]

Hi all - An unusual situation that I wonder if anyone else has been in? Put on "gardening leave" this week due to some internal changes, full pay for 4 weeks. Offered another job yesterday and they want me to start next week, so potentially I could be paid by two separate companies. Nothing in my existing contract about taking on other work. Anyone have any advice? Many thanks.

[TheFaQQer]

Being paid not to work is not a good indicator of being in business on your own account.

[unixman]

Working for 2 or more clients is fine on its own, but the "gardering leave" needs clarifying. Sitting at home and doing nothing is unlikely to be part of a valid service you provide to the client (unless your contract says it is?). Rather, it points to you being a permanent employee. Don't know what to suggest without more information.

[Hobosapien]

Ensure you can get any timesheets signed/approved if you happen to be working elsewhere while on 'leave', so you can get paid for the gardening.

Also check what the situation is if they cancel the leave and want you back, such as what notice you'll need to give. If 4 weeks notice required then not much different to leaving now and starting new 'job'.

A more contractor friendly term for the gardening leave would be being kept on retainer, should anyone enquire later on.

[northernladuk]

You are still in contract even on gardening leave. You must be available should they need you. By taking another contract you cannot fulfill the obligations of the first. Very risky to have two running.

But TF has given the answer. Take the new gig, quit the first one early and be nice and IR35 safe. Being greedy isn't the answer.

If the client/agency think they have to do this they clearly have a very poor grasp on what contractors are and do. In the OPs situation I'd be looking back at the gig and checking my IR35 status. I'd bet this is the tip of the iceberg. I hope the OP has TLC35 or IPSE+

[pr1]

You are still in contract even on gardening leave. You must be available should they need you. By taking another contract you cannot fulfill the obligations of the first. Very risky to have two running.

"Risky" to have more than one contract at a time? That doesn't sound very business like - take the new gig and worry about anything else if it happens, don't throw away money

[BrilloPad]

Take both - if contract 1 calls you back in tell them you are ill. Fill your boots!

Happened to me in 2015. 6 week overlap. I was bricking it when it came to onboarding for latest gig. However they did not care.

If they had asked, I would have suggested the previous companies got their dates wrong....

[Marc of Distinction]

Some interesting answers, thank you. It's nice to get free money but I don't want to be either greedy or illegal so I might just ask the current employer if they mind my taking a new contract. If they don't, great! If they do, then I'll suggest they cancel the contract and stop paying me so I can get paid by the new company without having to worry about it. Naive and foolish perhaps but at least it gets rid of any ambiguity :-)

[pr1]

Some interesting answers, thank you. It's nice to get free money but I don't want to be either greedy or illegal so I might just ask the current employer if they mind my taking a new contract. If they don't, great! If they do, then I'll suggest they cancel the contract and stop paying me so I can get paid by the new company without having to worry about it. Naive and foolish perhaps but at least it gets rid of any ambiguity :-)

You've certainly removed any ambiguity about whether you treat your contracts like employments

[jamesbrown]

Some interesting answers, thank you. It's nice to get free money but I don't want to be either greedy or illegal so I might just ask the current employer if they mind my taking a new contract. If they don't, great! If they do, then I'll suggest they cancel the contract and stop paying me so I can get paid by the new company without having to worry about it. Naive and foolish perhaps but at least it gets rid of any ambiguity :-)

FFS. “Gardening leave”? “Employer?” I dare say you should be worried, fullstop.