A senior IT employee for IBM UK has filed charges against the company for discrimination because he allegedly did not receive a pay raise. However, this employee has also been on sick leave since 2008, or for already around 15 years. Here’s the news.
15 years on sick leave
The IBM UK employee, Ian Clifford, said he was a victim of “disability discrimination” since his salary had not been raised in the 15 years he has been on sick leave. Under the health plan of IBM, this employee receives £54,000, or around $67,400 a year, and is guaranteed to receive the salary until he is 65.
Clifford argued that IBM’s health plan was “not generous enough” because his salary would just depreciate over time because of inflation.
The employee filed for sick leave in September 2008 and remained in this status until 2013, when he raised a complaint. Hearing his grievance, IBM offered Clifford a “compromise agreement” where he was placed under the company’s disability plan so he would not be dismissed.
Under this plan, an employee who cannot report to work is not dismissed but remains an employee. They are also not obliged to work.
Furthermore, an employee under this plan – until their recovery, retirement, or death – has a “right” to be paid 75 percent of the agreed earnings. Clifford’s agreed salary was £72,037 or almost $90,000 per year after 25 percent was deducted. This setup remains for over 30 years until Clifford reaches retirement age, which is 65 years old.
Last February 2022, this employee brought IBM to an employment tribunal over “disability discrimination.”
“The point of the plan was to give security to employees not able to work – that was not achieved if payments were forever frozen,” Clifford to the media.
‘Favorable treatment, very substantial benefit’
The employment judge handling the case, Judge Paul Housego, said he has already been given “favorable treatment” and a “very substantial benefit,” considering he is still getting paid even if he has been on sick leave for 15 years already.
“However, this is not the issue for, fundamentally, the terms of something given as a benefit to the disabled, and not available to those not disabled, cannot be less favorable treatment related to disability,” Judge Housego stated, “It is more favorable treatment, not less.”
The judge also said that active employees getting pay raises while inactive employees like Clifford not getting this benefit might be a difference, but is not a detriment because of something from the disability.
The IBM employee has been receiving a salary even if he has been on sick leave for 15 years. Do you think it is still fair for IBM?
