HIV and Reasonable Accommodation
KCHR
38 Posts
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-17-06 AT 12:12PM (CST)[/font][br][br][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-17-06 AT 12:11 PM (CST)[/font]
The temporary staffing division of our company approached me with the following situation this morning: An applicant for a position in a large mail room disclosed to the Staffing Coordinator that he has AIDS. One of the duties in the mail room is feeding mail into a sorter, and pulling mail out of a sorter. The client has told us that despite safety guards, the narrow slot for the feeder and how the mail is retrieved from the sorter sometimes leads to employees cutting their hands.
There are several needs in the mail room and we are trying to find out from the client (without revealing the applicant's situation) if there are enough tasks to constitute a full time position without the duties regarding feeding and retrieving from the sorter. If so, we are fine. If not, my first impression is that we need to see if some type of gloves can be obtained to protect the applicant's hands to prevent him from being a danger to himself or others.
What are your thoughts on this?
Kendall L. Waldock, Jr., J.D., CSP
Diversified Professional Staffing
w: (888) 350-2001, c: (816) 918-7334
Placing Professionals for over 30 years!
The temporary staffing division of our company approached me with the following situation this morning: An applicant for a position in a large mail room disclosed to the Staffing Coordinator that he has AIDS. One of the duties in the mail room is feeding mail into a sorter, and pulling mail out of a sorter. The client has told us that despite safety guards, the narrow slot for the feeder and how the mail is retrieved from the sorter sometimes leads to employees cutting their hands.
There are several needs in the mail room and we are trying to find out from the client (without revealing the applicant's situation) if there are enough tasks to constitute a full time position without the duties regarding feeding and retrieving from the sorter. If so, we are fine. If not, my first impression is that we need to see if some type of gloves can be obtained to protect the applicant's hands to prevent him from being a danger to himself or others.
What are your thoughts on this?
Kendall L. Waldock, Jr., J.D., CSP
Diversified Professional Staffing
w: (888) 350-2001, c: (816) 918-7334
Placing Professionals for over 30 years!
Comments
I would treat the employee the same as the others. If you have a safety issue with employees cutting their hands, get gloves for ALL your employees. If this person does cut his/herself, follow the same precautions that you would with any other blood spill from anybody else.
The only difference between the HIV employee and the other employees is that you KNOW THAT person has HIV. You don't know about the rest of them. They could all be HIV, which is why you take precautions with any blood or body fluid.
I'm sure there are some posters who have more intimate knowledge of HIV and I hope they chime in here for you.
Reality is in any workplace first responders should be using univeral precautions as part of their blood borne pathogens plan. This should really be a mute point.
Second the individual knows the risks and will probably take care of any cuts themselves...
Don't worry about it.
B'man