IT specialist on sick leave for 15 years sues IBM for not getting a pay rise
And what, so it was possible?
A senior IT professional who has been on sick leave since 2008 is suing his employer, IBM UK, for disability discrimination after not receiving a pay raise for 15 years. At the same time, according to court documentsIan Clifford now earns over £54,000 ($67,500) a year through the IBM Health Plan.
Yang is remunerated based on his salary for 2008, the year he last went to work. It is 75% of his then £72,000 salary. At the same time, they make full payments to the pension fund for him, and pay vacation pay. His disability is not directly related to work activity, and yet under the IBM program, Clifford will continue to receive $ 67,500 a year until he is 65 years old.
However, he is dissatisfied and does not consider this figure to be sufficient. Yang has sued IBM and claims that he must get a pay raise along with all other employees, otherwise it is gradually reduced to adjust for inflation. And failure to comply with this condition for so many years is a discrimination based on disability. He also demands full vacation pay and bonuses for all the years he has been away from work.
In 2012, Clifford sued the company for the first time in labor disputes, claiming he had not received a raise or vacation pay since he took sick leave in 2008. This complaint was resolved in 2013 when Clifford was added to the company’s special disability plan, which offered a higher percentage of benefits.
But in early 2022, Clifford filed a new disability discrimination lawsuit against IBM — alleging that he had again been abused since 2013 without receiving a pay raise or sufficient vacation pay in the meantime.
More specifically, in this last lawsuit (See point nine) Yang says he was treated unfavorably because:
he has not had a pay review since joining the plan on April 6, 2013;
he hasn’t had a pay rise since 2013 – while he would have expected a rise of at least 1.7% a year to keep pace with inflation;
for a month’s leave once a year, he was paid 75% of his salary, while other employees received 100% of their salary;
this underpayment of holiday pay was an “illegal deduction from wages” which left him underpaid £69,543 in total since April 2013;
a salary of 75% during all this time was his indirect discrimination as a person who is disabled – since ordinary workers are paid 100% of the salary;
he was not given bonuses and the “13th” salary by the end of the year, which also violated his rights as an employee.
Clifford said the amount he received from IBM has remained the same since 2013 (and before that, from 2008). And if this continues in the future, over time, he may no longer have enough for all the necessary things.
Is that allowed?
Apparently, it still isn’t. According to decree British Labor Tribunal of 24 April, Clifford’s claims were dismissed. Employment Judge Paul Housego wrote in it that:
The contention is that the lack of a pay increase is disability discrimination—because it is treated less favorably than those who do not have a disability.
This statement is untenable, because only disabled people can use this special program. People with disabilities who are enrolled in a special IBM plan are treated more favorably than those who are not disabled because they do not have to work.
Judge Housegoe concluded that “that the program is not even more generous does not constitute disability discrimination.”
He added that “Even if the £50,000 ($62,500) a year payment were to be halved in 30 years, it would still be a very substantial income. However, this is not the point: in principle, any disability benefit that is not available to all non-disabled people cannot be presented as disability discrimination. This is exceptionally more favorable treatment, not less.”
