Injunction to enforce 12 months garden leave

In JM Finn & Co Limited v Holliday, the High Court has extended an interim injunction to enforce a garden leave clause in the contract of employment of a stock broker. The effect was to force the stockbroker to stay at home for the entirety of his 12 month notice period on garden leave, when he had found employment with a new firm. The Court was persuaded that the injunction was a reasonable way of protecting the employer’s legitimate business interest in retaining its clients because it would take the firm’s investment managers a long time to forge new client relationships.

This is another example of Courts getting tougher on enforcing restrictions post termination and, in this case, garden leave clauses to ensure that legitimate business interests are properly protected.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.

– See more at: http://www.royds.com/case-law-update/national-minimum-wage-and-working-time/#sthash.JL7zeEbD.dpuf