With disability law now firmly on the side
of HIV positive workers, Shaun Smith reports on a ground-breaking
project working with companies and trade unions to debunk myths about HIV
in the workplace
Illustration: C(Aitch)
Not
long ago UKC got a call from a community care nurse: some staff at a local
care home were up in arms about working with a new resident who was HIV positive
because they were scared of catching the virus from toilet seats and mugs.
Clearly this was a workplace in need of some serious HIV myth-busting. UKC
alerted its Employment Trade Union Diversity & Development team (ETUDD
for short). ETUDD is a specialist team of positive speakers and employment
and trade union experts that works to debunk misinformation about the risks
people with HIV pose to others at work. The team speedily arranged a training
session for the care home’s 30 staff.
Eyes wide open
Michael Laffan, a positive speaker who presented to the care home, was taken
aback by how little the care staff and their managers knew about HIV.
“They expected me to be a skeleton - they kept saying ‘but you
are so healthy’. They thought you could catch HIV from dried blood on
towels or from sharing cigarettes, toilet seats and even crockery. Most of
the staff had never met an HIV positive person. Most of their care homes are
contracted to the NHS and I therefore expected a higher level of understanding.
“The little they knew about HIV was informed entirely by the tabloid
media; thanks to our visit their eyes were truly opened.”
Shortly after their visit the care home company drew up an HIV workplace policy
with help from ETUDD and took on two HIV positive service users on work placement:
both of who were looking for work in the caring professions.
ETUDD gets lots of calls from HIV positive people working as carers or social
workers, even though common sense suggests health and social services should
be at the vanguard of protecting the rights of people with long term health
conditions.
Winning hearts and minds
Discrimination is hard to stomach mainly because ignorance lies at its core.
And many of us with HIV live in fear of ignorance everyday. Those of us looking
for work can carry that fear from one interview to the next; afraid to disclose
a health status deemed too unsuitable for discussion. Too often we are confronted,
and usually put off by, overly-intrusive or unnecessary questions about our
health. After all, how could having HIV possibly interfere with someone’s
ability to drive a bus or work in a call centre?
While the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) has gone a long way to bolster
the legal rights of people living with HIV in the workplace, it’s the
hearts and minds of employers and co-workers that must be won to ensure workplaces
are safe and discrimination free for people living with the virus. Legislation
must be backed by educational programmes for employers and unions. And it
is this that ETUDD does so well.
Over the last year-and-a-half, the team has trained over a 100 employers and
many hundreds of their staff across the UK, including the British Transport
Police, the Probation Service, London councils, hoteliers, city firms and
large recruitment agencies.
ETUUD have recently decided to target two key employment areas: transport
and hospitality. Interestingly, the team found many of the worst transgressors,
those with the poorest records in handling HIV positive staff, were often
the most receptive to HIV training.
Turning around bad practice
Three years ago Kris Evans worked for a large financial institution where
he met his partner Paul. Paul fell seriously ill but proved a puzzle to the
doctors. Eventually both men underwent HIV tests which came back positive.
People at work assumed Paul had cancer and went out their way to show concern.
Still reeling from the shock, Kris took time off to care for his lover. But
when the pair notified the company they were both HIV positive everything
turned sour. Kris was ordered not to return to work on ‘health and safety
grounds’ and news of their diagnoses leaked into the workforce. While
still on his sick bed, Paul was pressured to take early retirement on a £350
a month pension. “I’ll never forget the day they visited us at
home,” says Kris.
“Paul was really sick and huddled under his blankets while they told
him it would be for the best. He was in no state to make such and important
decision.”
Enraged at their treatment, Kris took legal advice and secured an out-of-court
settlement from the firm after starting a claim for constructive dismissal
and failure to make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination
Act.
Kris joined the ETUDD team as UKC’s community HIV policy officer and
a positive speaker. Then, out of the blue, his former employers rang ETUUD
seeking advice on supporting their HIV staff. Kris agreed to deal with the
inquiry and found himself in the unusual position of advising his former bosses
on how to treat HIV positive people.
“I was delighted to help them put things right and draw up an HIV policy
to help them stay on the right side of the law. I’m glad they learned
from their mistakes and glad that anyone living with HIV who works them won’t
have to go through what we went through.”
Kris said: “Stigma and discrimination exist but we are quietly working
our way through organisations and unions to change policies. And people with
HIV can take some comfort from the fact work is underway to make their paths
to employment less stressful.”
Up close and personal
ETUDD presentations are free and are always tailored for their audience. But
the message is always the same: people living with HIV are capable of making
a valuable contribution given the right workplace policies and support. All
presentations involve a talk from a Positive Speaker, usually a volunteer,
who talks about living with the virus. Often it is these personal testimonies
that force people to re-think their prejudices.
The team is part of the Ensuring Positive Futures Programme, a partnership
of organisations including major HIV charities, businesses, government bodies
and trade unions funded by the European Unions Social Fund. They also work
with organisations in Europe with similar ideas. The partnership has just
launched a new website www.e-pf.org.uk which has masses of information for
employers, unions and people living with HIV on making workplaces more HIV
friendly.
Marguerite Okoli, an ETUDD volunteer, said: “Being from the African
community has been an issue with its own stigma concerning the virus. The
ignorance I’ve faced has caused me to build barriers. I came to UKC
when I’d decided I’d had my limit with other people’s fear.
“After volunteering for a while I went on a few presentations and was
amazed how people views transformed. I wanted to be a part of that team, helping
to make a difference. When the opportunity to become a Positive Speaker came
up, I jumped.”
HIV-friendly employers
• Have an HIV workplace policy
• Respect confidentiality
• Don’t ask intrusive medical questions
• May have an Investor in People mark
Useful websites
Ensuring Positive Futures:
www.e-pf.org.uk
UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS:
www.ukcoalition.org.uk
ACAS:
www.acas.org.uk
Disability Rights Commission:
www.drc-gb.org
DDA info:
www.pointofdiagnosis.org.uk
