IT Worker on Sick Leave for 15 Years Sues for Pay Raise
An IT worker in the UK who has been on sick leave for the last 15 years has sued his company for not raising his salary.
Ian Clifford, who is employed by IT company IBM, has cancer and he receives over $67,000 a year under a health plan with the company. As part of the plan, employees who can't work because of medical reasons are entitled to 75% of their salary until retirement.
Clifford will receive this salary until he is 65 — by which point he will have received over $1.8 million. However, he said he does not expect to live that long.
He also said not raising his salary over the 15 years was "disability discrimination."
Clifford said the plan was "not generous enough" because the value of his salary would decrease over time due to inflation. He also noted that other IBM employees did receive pay raises to match inflation and he said this was unfair.
However, the judge of the case disagreed with Clifford. Judge Paul Housego noted that only disabled people could receive a salary under the health plan so it was "not disability discrimination that the plan is not even more generous."
He added that even if the value of Clifford's salary decreased by half over 30 years it was still a significant benefit.
After the judge's decision, Clifford spoke to The Telegraph about his reasons for suing IBM.
He said that he had asked for a 2.5% pay raise for the period between 2013 and 2022, and that he had not wanted to sue IBM, but that he wanted to give his family some security.
Clifford, who says he has spent all of his savings on the case, has now made an appeal against Judge Housego's decision.
