I'm not sure of the legalities but I worked for a place that kept a laid off h1b employee on in a no-show position for 8 weeks to give him time to transition.
This is how it worked both times I was laid off from a large silicon valley company.
The deal was basically: "You're relieved of duties today, but you stay on the books and draw salary for [1-2] months, after which you'll be terminated with [N] months of salary as severance. Obviously you're welcome to look for other jobs, internally or externally, and if you find a new job and don't want to wait out the 2 months, you're free to quit early (foregoing severance)."
It felt waaay better than being escorted out with [N+2] months of severance, and the cost to the company is the same (or cheaper if some people wind up forfeiting their severance).
