Legal Duties to Workers With AIDS

April 13, 2006

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If you find out that an employee has AIDS, you will have several issues to deal with, including whether the employee will be able to continue to do the job and whether you should tell other employees about the employee's condition.

If you have 15 or more employees, you are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act and may have to make some reasonable accommodations for an employee with AIDS that will allow the employee to remain employed.

In most instances, you will not need to share the news of the employee's illness with other coworkers. In determining whether or not to do so, you also need to weigh the employee's right to privacy against your legitimate business needs. Remember, if you are found to have violated a person's right to privacy, you may find yourself facing a slander suit.

In every instance, you must weigh the legitimate business interest in obtaining and publishing the fact that an individual has AIDS or an AIDS-related illness against the degree of intrusion into an employee's privacy. Again, consider the confidentiality of the infected employee before announcing the person's private issues.

In an office environment, where the exchange of body fluids is rare, you would have far less of a legitimate business reason to probe into an employee's privacy regarding AIDS than if your business is in the health care field, where the risk of an accidental exchange of body fluids may be higher.

In your day-to-day dealing with employees, there won't be any need to treat an employee with AIDS differently from the way that you treat other employees. Nevertheless, you should anticipate and prepare for any situations where safety precautions may be necessary.