An IBM employee, Ian Clifford, who has been on sick leave since 2008 on an IBM health plan, has recently tried to sue his employer for not giving him a pay rise. With inflation being so high recently, many people have noticed their spending power declining, including Mr Clifford.
As part of his health plan, Mr Clifford is entitled to 75% of his salary, which is £72,037 ($89,671). After the 25% deduction, he receives £54,028 ($67,254). As part of the plan, he is still counted as an IBM employee but is under no obligation to do any work. Mr Clifford’s complaint was made on the basis that he has not received a salary increase since 2013 and with inflation so high, his current income “would soon wither”.
According to Mr Clifford, the point of the health plan is to offer security to those who can’t work but with the payments frozen at their current levels, he doesn’t believe the plan offers the promised security. For comparison, the median average salary for those working full-time in the UK is £33,000 ($41,078) per year and the median for all employees is £27,756 ($34,550).
In response to his case, Judge Paul Housego decided to dismiss the matter. He said the payment was only available to those who were disabled and could not, therefore, be considered less favourable treatment related to disability. In fact, he said, it’s more favourable treatment, not less.
According to The Telegraph, which first reported on the story, Mr Clifford now considers himself “medically retired” on his LinkedIn page. The case was brought by Mr Clifford in February of this year. He is set to continue receiving payments until his 65th birthday, by which time, he’ll have collected more than £1.5 million ($1.86 million) in total.
Source: The Telegraph (Yahoo! Finance)