HIV positive employee with big mouth

Dottie

We have a situation with a front line employee who is HIV positive. No problem so far. Except this particular employee has decided to broadcast the fact that he is infected. Our concern is that our business is a very exclusive, members only, club. We are concerned that: a) his co-workers may begin to discriminate against him; and b) the members may do so, as well. Our course of action so far has been to counsel him against this behavior for the stated reasons. My question is this -- if he continues, are we prohibited from taking disciplinary action against him?

Down_the_Middle

I had a situation very similar to this a few months ago. The employee felt compelled to broadcast his HIV status (we later learned that he did this to protect himself from fear of discrimination-------addressing this head-on). We used the "disclosure" as an opportunity to raise awareness for our employees in his department by assuring them that his status was not contagious, etc....and that with universal precautions, everyone could feel comfortable. The employee was also counselled that since he had come forth, he had an obligation to act responsibly with his disease and that his employment was unaffected as long as he followed the rules. He soon grew tired of announcing his condition and things had returned to a more normal status within that work area. HR and Employee Health were vigilant to keep employees informed with factual CDC info, answering questions and reassuring everyone that the work environment was not deteriorating. So far, it's worked.

Gar

Down-the-middle's suggestion could work. I too had a similar case in a previous HR life and the employee tired of shooting off his mouth. However, there were situations that arose whereby several of the employee's supervisors tended to treat the employee differently because of his medical condition. We nipped that in the bud real quick. Regarding your disciplinary action question, my sense is that although the employee has legal protections, those protections do not permit him to committ acts potentially detremental to your business. It's as though the employee is saying: "Hey, I'm HIV positive! Now, can I burn your house down?"

Down_the_Middle

Sorry, I missed the disciplinary question...... I certainly think that if his escapades cause such a disruption within the departmen/organization, that disciplinary action might be appropriate. He s/b disciplined for his behavior, vs. his health condition. Gar's right...... Some folks like to hide behind this type of disclosure. Disciplining him for disruptive behavior has its own perils, but you shouldn't avoid the issue entirely simply becuz he's HIV positive.

Margaret Morford

I would handle this the same way you would handle any employee who was disclosing personal information that was inappropriate or unprofessional. You wouldn't let an employee discuss in graphic details a recent surgery he/she had or a female employee discuss her "female problems" with other employees or members nor would you allow an employee to discuss the messy details of his/her recent divorce. Counsel with the employee about the fact that this is way too personal to be disclosing and sharing this type of information will make people think he is unprofessional. If he continues, I think you can address it with discipline as long as you are addressing any other situation where an employee discloses too much personal information. Hope this helps.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-25-01 AT 06:40PM (CST)[/font][p]How DO YOU handle other employees when they talk about their personal lives with other employees? With clients? How does THIS employee wind up talking to other employees about his HIV status? With clients? As long as you don't have a policy against any employee discussing personal matters with co-workers, why would you then require this employee to remain silent? These types of conversations are part of office banter of the workforce.

Of course discussing persnal matters with clients is a different matter. You probably need to take a careful look at your policy and what employees are actually doing with clients in this regard. Are they keeping personal matters out or are they engaging in discussion with clients about their personal lives? Is management enforcing any violation of this particular policy, or is it just going with the flow? Don't do a flip-flop on him just because he has HIV.

If the employee had cancer or some other medical condition and talked about it with co-workers, some co-workers would probably ignore him, walk away, while others would probably listen and empathize. Others wouldn't care either way.

If the employee is "thrusting" his conversation on others, interrupting them or repeatedly bothering them after they told him they "weren't interested" (or actions or words to that effect), then you'd have a case for disruption or harrassment. But I think if you start disciplining him for discussing voluntarily his HIV status with other employees when you don't discipline other employees for discussing their own personal affairs opens you up to some serious discrimination charges based upon medical condition.

If he were getting graphic about inappropriate matters -- let's say, sexual activity that gave him HIV -- that's a different matter, just as it would be a different matter for another employee, John, to start talking to co-workers who weren't interested in hearing about explicit sexual activities the night before although the discussion may have started out, "I went out to see a play last night...whatchya do last night, John?"

I agree with the idea that you may want to provide information to your workforce on HIV -- it may help eliminate claims of discrimination later. Use the door he's opened to educate your employees.

Dottie

I want to thank all of you. The points and suggestions you have made have been very sound and a big help. It hadn't occurred to me whether or not we had cautioned anyone else about discussing other personal matters -- this will help me look at our overall policies in this regard in order to be fair to everyone.