Woman with HIV settles bias complaint

By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

A former food-service worker with HIV has received significant payment, including cash, as settlement for a bias complaint against her previous employer.

The woman, whose name PGN is withholding in accordance with Pennsylvania’s HIV Privacy Act, had prepared food orders and sliced meats and cheeses, among other duties, at a sandwich shop in Lancaster County.

The 26-year-old woman began working at the shop in April 2007. Then last August, while she was cleaning a meat slicer, she cut a finger on her left hand, requiring four stitches.

Two days later, as she tells it, she was called into a meeting with sandwich-shop officials and confronted about her HIV status, which her friend and coworker had admitted divulging to management.

During what the woman said was an emotional meeting, shop officials told her that she had endangered the health and well being of others by not disclosing her HIV status.

Then, said the woman, she was fired.

“They made me feel like everyone was going to die because I didn’t say anything — just because I have HIV and I cut my finger,” she told PGN.

She promptly filed for state unemployment compensation but was denied, so she contacted the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and was given legal assistance from staff attorney Sarah Schalman-Bergen.

They made their case to state unemployment-compensation officials that the former employee was not required to disclose her HIV status in the workplace, even after she cut herself.

Compensation-board officials eventually reversed their decision and awarded the woman unemployment benefits.

Ronda B. Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, noted that many people still hold misconceptions about how AIDS is spread.

“This case is about a misunderstanding of how HIV is transmitted,” Goldfein told PGN. “No one gets HIV from a food worker. I’m disheartened that we’re fighting this battle over and over.”

Owners of the sandwich shop couldn’t be reached for comment.

According to the terms of the settlement, the owners admit to no wrongdoing and the woman cannot disclose the amount of her payment.

Goldfein said the compensation alone is a victory.

“While the respondent admitted no wrongdoing, the fact that she was compensated makes her feel vindicated, after experiencing what she perceived to be unfair treatment,” she added.

Goldfein said the case also reinforces the privacy rights of employees, whatever their medical status might be.

“The overall idea is that we have a right to privacy of our medical records in the workplace. It’s not absolute, but that’s the general rule. The exceptions are not disease-specific.”

Nancy Gippert, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, confirmed that the agency investigated the case for about eight months.

Meanwhile, the complainant in the case has found another job, at a convenience store.

“She is conscientious, she wants to move forward with her life,” Goldfein said. “She’s shown a lot of fortitude for a young woman to have so many pitfalls and keep rolling.”

Schalman-Bergen said she’s handling several HIV-bias cases involving food-service workers.

“Food service seems to be one of the last frontiers of discrimination of people living with HIV,” said the attorney.

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.