HIV positive

Tammy · January 2002

One of the employees told the manager that he is HIV positive. Evidently, he disclosed this information as he will need to take time for treatment. Now that we are aware of this, is there anything that needs to be done? On one hand, we have to protect the confidentiality of the employee and the medical information he has disclosed. On the other hand, is there anything we need to do to protect safety of employees if anything were to happen to him at work? His job is not a phycical nature, it's pure administrative and there is no danger of cutsn or things of that nature. Accidental things may occur, however. What is your experience/advice?

KarenTN · January 2002

Several years ago we inadvertently (by a workers comp physician's report) obtained information that a production worker was HIV positive. My concerns were the same as yours. I contacted our labor attorney and his advice was to make sure we continued to instruct our designated first aid responders on the handling of infectious body fluids as part of our routine workplace safety and first aid training, but the right to privacy of the individual outweighed any imminent danger to the other workers. His condition was disclosed to his supervisor(who is the trained first aid responder)and general manager based on a "need to know". Our worker has continued to work without any lost time due to his illness and as far as I know, his co-workers are still unaware of his condition.

Lori Perdue · February 2002

Hello, All... We have also recently had an employee disclose their HIV + status to us, regrettably as we were doing a 'Final Warning' for excessive missed time. We will be providing this employee with our FMLA paperwork, to protect future missed time as she battles her illness. My question: Any differences or wording in the way FMLA should be treated for HIV / Aids? Any experiences that you can share would be helpful... A few things I know for sure: A formal Blood Borne Pathogens program can be a life-saver - literally... and for every ONE person that has disclosed their status to you, there will be an unknown number of those that remain silent - and you will just never know it. This employee has been HIV + since 1997, and we had no prior indications... Traditionally, various industries & workforces, (All of Society: regardless of Cultural, Financial, Racial, Sexual, Environmental, City vs Rural, Background, Religious, Political...) were affected differently...more risk with lower-lever, unskilled workforce that may have unsavory pasts, or currently participate in high-risk activities -- vs less risk with a professional workforce that is more conservative, better educated, and more likely to be aware of protections, preventions or avoidance of risky practices. These days, however, a high level $75K white-collar exec is just as much at risk, as is a $6.50 Manufacturing worker - both could have a checkered past (or present!) that may include IV drugs, or too many indescriminate sexual partners (gay or straight!) There are no 'stereotypes' any longer, and as the BBP Program will teach you, you must treat every incident of exposure as if it were infectious; and you will protect yourself, your employees, your company -- and if what you do is standard and consistent, no one will be offended or feel discriminated against - all precautionary actions are normal & routine. Again, if you've had good or bad experiences with a similar situation, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks, Lori in MD

sbridges · November 2002

Please contact our agency....we can assist you at no cost through our HIV/AIDS workplace program.

[email]sbridges@aidsfund.org[/email]

Stephen

Ethel · December 2002

Have read with great interst the question and everyone's statements. All of this discussion has raised a question in my mind regarding the trained First Response Team in a manufacturing facility. If employer knows that an employee in the plant is HIV positive, should you inform that team that someone is HIV positive but not reveal a name? We are in TX and it's a very litigious state. What are your thoughts on this?

hrbanker · December 2002

In my workplace, informing the team that one person had HIV would just set up a guessing game as to who was infected. And there may be others that are HIV positive that you don't know about. There are also other types of transmittable diseases like hepatitis. It best to train the first response team to treat EVERYONE as if they have a blood borne disease.

HIV positive

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