He has not worked for 15 years, remains paid more than 5000 euros per month by his company, but asks for a salary increase. The British newspaper The Telegraph reported on Monday that an IBM employee was dismissed from this request by the courts.
Ian Clifford, 50, suffers from leukemia and was placed on sick leave in 2008, initially for psychological disorders, then, since 2012, for this bone marrow disease. He filed a case with a court in the English town of Reading, west London. The aim was to obtain compensation for “discrimination based on disability”.
The employee complained that he had not received any increase since 2013, although he remains present in the company’s workforce. The American multinational, specializing in the IT sector, has nevertheless given him a plan of its own and allows him to continue to receive 75% of the salary until retirement, if he succeeds.
Finance his son’s studies and shelter his family before his death
Such a policy is particularly exceptional in the United Kingdom. It allowed Ian Clifford to continue to receive the equivalent of just over 5,000 euros per month, or around 54,000 pounds per year. This sum, scheduled to arrive in his account until his 65th birthday, could therefore have been paid for thirty years in all.
In March, justice considered that the plaintiff’s request was unfounded. It highlights the conditions that IBM continues to provide. She even mentions a “favorable treatment”.
Speaking for the first time publicly in this case, Ian Clifford explains to the British newspaper that he wanted, with this legal action, to protect his family from want. He adds that “yes, people may think” that the salary is “generous”. “But this is a gross amount,” he tempers.
Moreover, he insists, he must finance his son’s university studies. In England, the sum to be paid each year can reach up to nearly 10,000 euros. But he worries about the future. “I have very little chance of living to 65,” he says.