Used in a number of ways e.g. Golden Hello - cash inducement to encourage someone to join a new company. Golden Handcuffs - a contract which makes it financially attractive to stay, but potentially financially unattractive to leave. Golden Handshake - a large cash sum, some of which will be tax free, paid to employees who leave, usually not of their own accord, before the end of a service contract. Golden Rule - a rule of statutory interpretation allowing the court to depart from strict procedures of interpretation of words if it would lead otherwise to an absurd result.