Some companys can ask you to take you leave in lieu of notice, (like financial institutions) so you give them 3 weeks notice, and then leave on the same day, and get paid your leave as the next three weeks pay... But sometime they put an embargo on getting another job in that "leave" time... or you could request it yourself... but some bosses want to get every penny out of an employee so will make them work up to the last second, and it sounds like you might be in that situation... Good luck to your DH.