Employee sued IBM for not giving him pay rise. Case dismissed

An employment tribunal in UK’s Reading has dismissed a case filed against IBM by an employee, who accused the tech giant of ‘discrimination,’ as it did not give him pay rise for 5 years.

The complainant, Ian Clifford, has been on sick leave since September 2008, and accused IBM of’ ‘disability discrimination.’ According to his LinkedIn profile, he is ‘medically retired’ and since April 2013, he has been working full-time with IBM in that capacity.

It was for this near 5-year period, starting September 2008, that Clifford complained he did not get a pay hike, and no holiday pay as well.

What is the case?

According to the Telegraph, Clifford went to the employee 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.

Under the plan, the System Architect is paid £54,000 a year ( ₹55 lakh), and is guaranteed a salary until he is 65; as per the Telegraph, he was in his mid-thirties when he raised the grievance. The plan, meanwhile, also protects a person who is unable to work from being dismissed, and they remain employed but with ‘no obligation to work.’

The verdict

Tribunal judge Paul Housego disagreed with Clifford’s grievances.

“…the terms of something given as a benefit to the disabled, and not available to those not disabled, cannot be a less favourable treatment related to disability. It is a more favourable treatment, and not less,” the judge said in one of his many observations, and dismissed the case.