HIV in the Workplace
Persons with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are protected by the ADA during all stages of the disease. Discriminatory protection is provided during the application process, interviewing, hiring, salary and benefit compensation, promotions, leave of absences, and all other workforce activities.
An HIV-negative applicant or employee who has a relationship of any kind with a person who is HIV positive is also protected from discrimination by the ADA. This includes a spouse, relative, domestic partner, or roommate, among others. An employee who refuses to work with a person with HIV should be subjected to the usual discipline for insubordination.
A person who tests HIV positive may appear to be perfectly healthy and experience no complications. Others may have advanced into Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and suffer from symptoms such as skin lesions, weight loss, excessive diarrhea, headaches, or neurological disorders, to name a few. HIV and AIDS are communicable diseases with potentially fatal outcomes, although the Centers for Disease Control reports that HIV infection doesn't always lead to AIDS. Couple this with a twenty-year epidemic and the result is an alarmist situation fueled by people who have been poorly educated about the disease.
Employers may not inform other employees if a coworker is HIV positive. However, whether or not there is a person known to be HIV positive in the workplace, precautions should be made to deter contact with the disease. HIV infection may occur during physical intimate penetration, a poke with an infected needle, or direct exposure of contaminated blood into an open wound. Therefore, employees should be trained on how to keep themselves and others free from needle contamination and blood exposure while at work.
Workers who empty trashcans must wear protective gloves and be trained about how to avoid needles that may have been disposed of improperly. These needles may come from an intravenous drug user who tossed them in a trashcan or a person with a medical condition, such as diabetes, who uses needles for a legitimate reason. Most people with diabetes know how to properly dispose of needles, but carelessness happens and everyone should be on guard.
Everyone should be trained about blood-borne pathogens and how to handle injuries of their own or a coworker's that involve blood. Exposure to blood-borne pathogens may be a cause of HIV infection, as well as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and over a dozen other illnesses, of which many may be fatal. Personnel in the health-care field are especially prone to this danger and should receive thorough training on prevention. Nonhealth-care employees should receive training consistent with the risks on the job. Be proactive and initiate this training before an HIV-positive employee joins your team.
Education on HIV and AIDS is a helpful tool to avoid having infected employees treated unfairly by coworkers. As an employer, you may not allow HIV-positive persons, or anyone with a disability, to be treated unfairly by your staff. The biggest problem is an employee who thinks that he is in danger of exposure by working with a person who tests positive. This is not true. Sharing food, a workspace, toilet seat, office equipment, or oxygen with a person who is HIV positive cannot infect someone. Additionally, casual direct contact will not put anyone in danger, nor will the cough or sneeze of an infected person.
