AIDS and HIV sufferers should not tolerate any adverse employment action because they have this disease.  There are laws that protect the physically handicapped against discrimination, which includes protection for AIDS and HIV sufferers or those who are perceived to have AIDS or HIV.  If you believe that you have been fired, harassed and/or retaliated against because you have AIDS, HIV or are perceived to have either, you should consult with an attorney to find out your rights.

Click here to find out how to receive a FREE consultation.    

For instance, New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and New York’s Human Rights Law provide that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate based on a person’s disability.

In the case of Petri v. Bank of New York Co., 153 Misc. 2d 426, 582 N.Y.S. 2d 608 (Supreme Court 1992), the Court stated that AIDS sufferers are considered disabled under the New York Human Rights Law.  The Court held, “Clearly, AIDS is a disability, a medical impairment, and a ghastly one.”  The Court further noted that the Human Rights Law applies not only to actual disabilities, but to perceived ones as well, whether the perceptions are justified or not.  The Court said, “This principle…is the result of the sensible and humane notion that we are no more justified in victimizing individuals on the grounds of suspicions of disability than because we have knowledge of the real thing.”  Furthermore, asymptomatic HIV infection is also considered a diagnosable medical abnormality that constitutes a disability.

Similarly, in Gilbert v. Related Management Co., L.P., 254 A.D. 53, 678 N.Y.S. 2d 326 (App. Div. 1998), the Court found that a disability discrimination claim had been established by an openly gay man who was perceived to have AIDS when he returned to work following an illness and was demoted and fired.

In New Jersey, the definition of “handicapped” under the Law Against Discrimination actually includes AIDS and HIV infection, which makes it easier to assert a claim under this law.  Click here to find out how to receive a FREE newsletter and consultation regarding your rights if you have been discriminated against based on actual or perceived HIV or AIDS infection.