Employment protection or discrimination? (Courts).Protection from employment discrimination just got a little shakier for people with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. and other chronic diseases. The Supreme Court on June 10 ruled that the Americans With Disabilities Act Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. civil-rights law, enacted 1990, that forbids discrimination of various sorts against persons with physical or mental handicaps. does not prevent companies from being able to deny employment to workers with chronic health conditions if the firm deems the job threatening to the employee's health. The case revolved around refinery worker Mario Echazabal, who was denied a job at a Chevron plant in El Segundo El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and , Calif., because he has hepatitis C Hepatitis C Definition Hepatitis C is a form of liver inflammation that causes primarily a long-lasting (chronic) disease. Acute (newly developed) hepatitis C is rarely observed as the early disease is generally quite mild. . Chevron officials said that the solvents and other chemicals used in the workplace could endanger Echazabal's health and accelerate his hepatitis. AIDS activists worry that the decision could be used by companies to deny employment to qualified HIV-positive workers or to decline to provide workplace accommodations. "It's a very, very thin line that separates a genuine paternalistic pa·ter·nal·ism n. A policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibilities. concern for the workers and outright discrimination," said Catherine Hanssens, director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund's AIDS Project. |
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