I might be wrong, but I don’t think that she’s in the kind of job that would have garden leave in the contract. She’s not high powered or influential enough for her old employer to worry that she’s going to steal clients or colleagues. I suspect she handed in her notice and they told her not to bother to work it (as she doesn’t sound like the most productive employee normally, let alone when she’s decided to leave a company). Either that or they sacked her and have paid her in lieu of her notice period…this would explain the post about not being everyone’s cup of tea.