Short Answer
An employer who bars you from entering the office must continue to disburse your full salary until the contract ends.
Being placed on garden leave does not strip you of your monthly contractual compensation or your basic employee rights.
What Most Expats Don't Realize
You were placed on immediate garden leave after handing in your resignation and assumed your remaining 15 days of accrued annual vacation would be paid out as extra cash at the end. Your company text specified that your suspension was "irrevocable," which legally allowed them to count your remaining time off as completely consumed during the garden leave period. You lost your entire vacation payout, resulting in a direct financial deficit of €3,000 because you did not clarify the terms of the suspension.
What To Do
- Open your email dashboard and check the exact wording of the garden leave notice issued by HR.
- Ask for a written correction if the documentation fails to specify whether the suspension is revocable (widerruflich) or irrevocable (unwiderruflich).
- "Wird mein restlicher Urlaubsanspruch durch die Freistellung vollständig angerechnet?" (Will my remaining vacation entitlement be fully credited through the garden leave?) — email this question to payroll to calculate your final compensation balance.
The Truth
Companies use this to protect trade secrets or prevent "toxic" energy from a departing employee. It is a win-win: you get a paid holiday, and they get a clean break.