gardening leave
noun [ U ]
HR, WORKPLACE informal ukus(also garden leave)in the UK, a period of time after an employee leaves a job when they continue to be paid but are neither allowed to go to work nor to begin a new job. Important employees are sometimes put on gardening leave so that they cannot give private information about their previous employer to a new employer:
He is currently on gardening leave and may not take up his new post until May.
be placed/put on gardening leave He has been put on gardening leave while issues of compensation are resolved.