IBM employee sued company who accused the tech giant of ‘discrimination,’ as it did not give him a pay rise for 5 years.
Ian Clifford, a disabled employee, sued the company claiming that he is the victim of ‘disability discrimination’. According to Linkedin profile and Hindustan Times, he has been working at IBM and in September 2008, went on sick leave and raised a grievance in 2013, which also protects a person who is unable to work from being dismissed, and they remain employed but ‘no obligation to work.’ He is ‘medically retired’ now.
Ian went to the employment tribunal in Feb 2022, claiming that the salary he was receiving under the IBM Health Plan was not ‘generous’ enough and that it would ‘wither’ over time through inflation. He also complained that his salary had not been increased in the 15 years that he was not working. He is paid £54,000 a year ( ₹55 lakhs) under the plan and is guaranteed a salary until he is 65.
Employment Tribunal judge Paul Housego disagreed and said that there cannot be a less favorable treatment associated with disability in terms of anything provided as a benefit to the disabled but not available to those who are not impaired. It is a more advantageous treatment, not a less favorable one, the court observed before dismissing the case.
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