He was on sick leave for 15 years, he sued the company for not giving him a raise

An IT professional who has been on paid sick leave – not required to work since 2008 – recently tried to sue his employer for not giving him a raise.

Ian Clifford, an IT professional who is paid £54,000 a year as part of his disability scheme by his employer, technology giant IBM, recently tried to sue the US company for “disability discrimination”, claiming his salary was not “kind to enough” to keep up with inflation. Except Clifford doesn’t work, he gets paid.

Clifford has not worked for the company in the past 15 years, but will continue to receive his annual salary until retirement or death, according to IBM’s disability plan. Despite this, the IT worker feels that he has been treated unfairly by his employer and has taken the company to court for a salary increase. Medium Oddity.

Clifford, from Reading, England, started working at US software company Lotus Development in 2000, five years after it was acquired by IBM. In September 2008, he went on sick leave until 2013, when he first lodged a complaint about his five-year holiday pay and non-receipt of increments.

IBM eventually offered the IT professional a “compromise agreement” that allowed him to join the company’s disability program with a guaranteed salary and no obligation to work until recovery, retirement or death.

Under the disability scheme, Ian Clifford has been paid 75% of his agreed salary of £72,037 (£54,028) for the past 15 years without work, plus £8,685 to settle disputes over his 2013 holiday pay.

Some would call that a great deal, but last year, an IT worker tried to sue IBM in a UK employment tribunal, claiming she had been treated unfairly by her employer. The case was dismissed by the court.