What is garden leave?

You remain employed and paid during notice, but you stay away from work. The EDT is usually the last day of that notice.

What is payment in lieu of notice?

The employer ends employment now and pays the notice as money. The EDT is usually the date employment actually ends under that letter.

Does garden leave pause a tribunal deadline?

No. Once the EDT arrives, the filing clock runs. Start Acas if you will need it.

Garden leave and payment in lieu of notice

Updated September 2026

A closed laptop on a garden table beside a plant and a cold cup of tea. — Still employed, or already finished? That single difference moves the tribunal clock.

Being walked out the same afternoon does not tell you whether you are on garden leave or have been paid in lieu. One of those keeps you employed through the notice period. The other ends employment on the day they pay. The effective date of termination follows that choice, and so does every deadline after it.

They are not the same thing

	Garden leave	Payment in lieu (PILON)
Still employed?	Yes, until notice expires	Usually no. Employment ends when the payment takes effect
Work?	No, unless they call you back	No
Pay	Salary as normal through notice	A lump (or staged) sum instead of working notice
Needs a contract clause?	Usually yes, or your agreement	A PILON clause helps them; without one it can be a breach they then pay for

Garden leave

You stay on the books. You keep being paid. You usually cannot start the next job, take clients, or log into the systems. Holiday can still accrue. Restrictive covenants often run from the real end date, which is later than the day you handed the pass back.

If they stop paying mid-garden-leave, that is an unpaid-wages problem as well as a notice problem. Read the unpaid wages deadline and keep paying attention to the EDT, because a constructive resignation during garden leave resets it.

Payment in lieu of notice

PILON buys out the notice. Done properly, your employment ends on the date in the letter, not weeks later. The sum should cover at least the statutory or contractual notice, whichever is higher, plus the holiday you have already earned. Benefits and bonus treatment depend on the contract. Do not assume a “PILON” line on a payslip is the full picture.

If they call it PILON but keep you hanging without a date, treat it as ambiguous. Write and ask: “On what date does my employment end?” That sentence is worth more than a week of guessing.

What this does to your EDT

Garden leave: the EDT is usually the last day of the notice period, even if you never went back to the building.

PILON with a valid clause: the EDT is usually the day employment is stated to end, often the day of the payment or the date in the letter.

Summary dismissal with no PILON and no notice: the EDT is the day you were sacked. If the dismissal was not justified, you may also have a notice-pay claim on top of unfair dismissal.

Put the EDT you actually have into the deadline calculator. Do not use the day you were told “go home” if the letter says something else.

What you are still owed

Neither garden leave nor PILON wipes statutory redundancy pay, holiday already earned, or a wages deduction that happened last month. If they handed you a settlement agreement with the PILON, read that page before you sign. If this happened this week, start with the first-48-hours checklist.

This is general information, not legal advice. The contract and the termination letter decide more than the phrase your manager used in the corridor.

Quick answers

What is garden leave?: You remain employed and paid during notice, but you stay away from work. The EDT is usually the last day of that notice.
What is payment in lieu of notice?: The employer ends employment now and pays the notice as money. The EDT is usually the date employment actually ends under that letter.
Does garden leave pause a tribunal deadline?: No. Once the EDT arrives, the filing clock runs. Start Acas if you will need it.