A man who spent 15 years off from work on sick leave and ended up trying to sue his employer for a payrise has insisted that he’s not being greedy, despite already banking £50,000+ a year to do sweet F-all.
IBM employee Ian Clifford has been on sick leave since September 2008, having originally signed off sick for mental health reasons, and according to his LinkedIn has been ‘medically retired’ since 2013.
Clifford is terminally ill, having been diagnosed with stage four leukemia in 2012, and in 2013 he reached a ‘compromise agreement’ with IBM where he would be put on their disability plan. This means Clifford receives an annual payment of £54,028 and will continue to do so until he’s 65, and is under no obligation to work.
Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, except Clifford then sued IBM for not giving him a pay rise, arguing that he has seen his salary ‘wither’ over the last few years due to rocketing inflation.
Unfortunately for him, Judge Paul Housgo threw the case out, ruling that Clifford was taking the p1ss (essentially): “The complaint is in fact that the benefit of being an inactive employee on the Plan is not generous enough, because the payments have been at a fixed level since April 6, 2013, now 10 years, and may remain so.
“The claim is that the absence of increase in salary is disability discrimination because it is less favourable treatment than afforded those not disabled.”
“This contention is not sustainable because only the disabled can benefit from the plan. It is not disability discrimination that the plan is not even more generous.”
Clifford responded to the ruling, telling the Telegraph: “I am on chemotherapy and have been for many years and have been extremely unwell.”
“People may think, yes it’s generous, but firstly those amounts are gross not taxed. I do pay National Insurance on those amounts.”
“Your mortgage doesn’t go down because you are sick. I had to use all my savings to bring this case and more and had to borrow money on a credit card. It’s left me financially very vulnerable.”
“People will still think it’s greedy but at the end of the day, yes it’s unfortunate, but that was a benefit I got with the job.”
Obviously it’s very sad to hear about Clifford’s medical situation, but he still has to be one of the best treated employees on planet Earth. £54,028 a year until you’re 65 and you don’t have to lift a finger? I had no idea that was possible in any situation, but looking into it, anti-discrimination laws in the UK are so strict that it’s apparently cheaper for a company like IBM to keep paying your salary than to deal with disability discrimination lawsuits.
Good to know…
For the mum who held back tears of joy after her disabled son got taken to a brothel to pop his cherry, click HERE.
