On 15-year sick leave, ex-IBM employee loses case over pay hikes

A UK employment tribunal has rejected a disability discrimination claim by a former IBM employee who spent nearly 15 years on sick leave and argued that his income should have risen despite not working.

Ian Clifford, a UK-based software professional, went on long-term sick leave in September 2008 for mental health reasons and was later diagnosed with a serious illness. He never returned to work, but remained on IBM’s payroll, with his salary frozen at its pre-illness level.

In 2013, five years into his absence, Clifford complained that he had not received any pay rises. The dispute was settled later that year, when IBM placed him on its Sickness and Accident Plan, guaranteeing him 75% of his last drawn salary each year until the age of 65.

At the time, this translated into annual payments of more than £54,000. Media estimates suggested that the total value of the arrangement from 2008 to retirement would exceed £1.5 million.

Clifford also received additional sums to settle holiday pay claims, after which the matter was formally closed.

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However, in 2022, he returned to court, alleging that IBM had discriminated against him by failing to uprate his fixed annual payments in line with inflation, thereby eroding the real value of his income.

The tribunal dismissed the claim in 2023, holding that the long-term payment plan itself amounted to a significant benefit available only to an employee in Clifford’s position.

The judge ruled that the payments constituted protected financial support rather than a frozen salary, and that the absence of inflation-linked increases did not amount to unlawful discrimination.

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