HIV+ve worker wins case against
Armani
A
man who lost his job at a flagship Armani store after telling his bosses he
was HIV positive has told how his fight for justice destroyed his health.
Massimo Pasquarelli, a restaurant manager for 14 years at the Emporio Armani
store in Knightsbridge, last month won an £18,000 compensation payout
at an industrial tribunal. He told PN the fight had left him a broken man.
The tribunal ruled the 43-year-old was unlawfully discriminated against but
rejected Pasquarelli’s claim for unlawful dismissal.
Diagnosed with HIV in 1993, Mr Pasquarelli disclosed his HIV status to his
employers after becoming severely ill with multiple Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
a cancer which affected his lungs and liver.
When the store closed for refurbishment last April, he claimed was not offered
suitable alternative work, was discriminated against and made redundant.
His case was reported in the media in the same week as stars flocked to a
celebrity party held by Giorgio Armani to endorse the Bono Red campaign to
promote HIV awareness and support the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria.
Mr Armani’s partner Sergio Galeotti died from Aids in 1993.
Armarni’s UK franchise is held by a multi-millionaire Malaysian national
called Howe Chegne.
In its ruling against the Armani franchise company Orthet, the tribunal said:
“We would expect Mr Pasquarelli’s many years of loyalty to be
rewarded by the offer of at least a temporary position for the duration of
the café’s closure.
“Orthet discriminated against Mr Pasquarelli by not offering him alternative
employment and did so for a reason relating to his disability, treating him
less favourably than they treated a person to whom that reason did not apply.”
Since 5 December 2005, the Disability Discrimination Act has protected all
HIV positive employees in work from the point of diagnosis.
An HIV positive employee has no legal obligation to disclose his status but
if they do it must be treated in confidence and the employer has a legal duty
to provide reasonable adjustments for the employee and not discriminate against
them. If the employee is dismissed or discriminated against because of a reason
relating to disability, they are within their rights to take the employer
to an industrial tribunal.
Mr Pasquarelli said he had no choice but to accept what experts said was a
very low financial settlement.
“I was suffering from a lot of stress and the push and pull of the case
has affected my health.
“I have lost 4 kilos in weight and my confidence has been completely
destroyed. I now I have no money left and am living on £58 a week incapacity
benefit,” he said.
An Armani spokesman denied Mr Pasquarelli was fired because he was HIV positive
and said he had refused an offer of alternative employment within the company.
They said he was given time off on full pay as well as financial help with
his medical bills.
The case highlights the precarious nature of employment protection for HIV
positive workers and that some glamorous companies who profess to support
HIV causes may be less supportive when it comes to their own HIV positive
employees.
Michael
‘Mitzi’ Landers RIP
It is with sadness that we report the sudden death of Michael Landers
in early September at St Thomas’ Hospital, south London, at the age
of 49.
Known to friends as ‘Mitzi’, Michael was well known character
among the community in Vauxhall, where he was often seen wearing a kilt and
leathers, propped up by a single crutch.
Originally from Bromley, Kent, Michael was diagnosed with HIV in 1983. He
worked at the Hoist in Vauxhall and with various children’s and church
groups in the area.
Although he never took HIV medications, and suffered from mobility problems,
CMV and toxoplasmosis, Michael was always respected for his charitable, if
slightly outrageous, activities.
He is survived by his partner Lee, who said: “Miss you Mitzi, you sleep
alone at last.”
Cash squeeze forces HIV cutbacks
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are being forced to make cutbacks in HIV services
as they strive to balance their books. In London, Kensington and Chelsea PCT
has made cutbacks totalling £12.45 million this financial year across
all health areas with HIV services bearing their part.
River House, an HIV centre in Hammersmith, has had to cut back some complementary
therapies and counselling and St Mary’s in Paddington has also been
forced to cut back therapy services for HIV patients.
HIV PCT commissioners said they had to fund services for those at the highest
level of need and assured PN that local alternative services are available
at Lighthouse West.
The problem is exacerbated because central London teaching hospitals attract
thousands of HIV patients from outside their own areas.
Chelsea and Westminster hospital has more than 4,000 HIV patients but the
borough, Kensington and Chelsea, has only 900 HIV positive residents.
PCTs where HIV positive patients are resident have to pay for treatments carried
out at the hospitals where the patients receive treatment.
But because of the high cost of the antiretroviral drug bill, HIV hospitals
and HIV charities around the country are feeling the pinch.
• Cutbacks in your area? Let PN know what is happening
Teen sex ignorance proves widespread
British teenagers are ill- informed about safer sex and potential sexual risks,
according to several new studies published this month.
An online study by LunarStorm, found the thing that a quarter of 15-20 year
olds feared most about sex was ‘being bad at it’.
A similar percentage said catching a sexually transmitted disease (STI) was
their greatest fear.
Gay youth website Puffta said it feared twice as many gay teenagers may have
contracted HIV this year than in 2005. Puffta editor Simon Johnson said: “Many
gay teens are still not taking precautions. We are worried that this year’s
figures will be truly shocking.”
The survey revealed almost half of gay teens had regular unprotected sex,
with over a third not knowing their HIV status. And even when condoms are
used, 16-18 year-olds did not use them correctly.
Meanwhile a huge survey of 30,000 young people aged 16-24 found 80 per cent
said sex education at school only covered the ‘basics’ and teachers
were not ranked highly as an important source of sex advice.
Roy
Parr RIP
Roy Parr, chair of Catholics for Aids Prevention and Support (CAPS), died
suddenly, aged 69, on 15 September at his home in Reading. Roy was a supporter
of the Catholic Aids Link until its closure in 1999 and co-founder of CAPS
in 2000. He retired from his city career 15 years ago and energetically supported
various voluntary projects. He was an ardent fundraiser for Crusaid, a trustee
of Thames Valley Positive Support and helped set up the Consortium of LGBT
Voluntary and Community Organisations.
Roy was greatly loved and respected throughout the UK Christian and HIV community.
He is survived by wife Rita and their children, and was delighted by his first
granddaughter born last year.
news on the side
Yarl’s Wood slammed
A report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons criticises the appalling healthcare
provisions for those detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre.
The report calls upon the Home Office to: “stop violating its own policies
by routinely detaining torture survivors, children and people with serious
medical and psychological problems.” It also calls for healthcare in
the centres to be transferred to the NHS.
Poverty hits our health
Economic hardship is putting at risk the health of those living with HIV,
according to Yusef Azad of the National Aids Trust, speaking at the Crusaid
Poverty and HIV Conference. Increasingly, poverty affects asylum seekers and
older people, and causes suffering and illness for people whose health is
already compromised.
DVD for newly diagnosed
‘Positive Living’, an educational DVD for people newly diagnosed
with HIV, has been produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals and the
Terrence Higgins Trust. Designed to answer commonly asked questions posed
by people newly diagnosed, it will be distributed free via clinics throughout
the country and THT.
www.tht.org.uk
HIV rights probe
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Aids is seeking information from NGOs
and individuals to assess the effectiveness of the Human Rights Act and the
recommendations made by the Group in 2001. Of particular interest is information
on the rights of prisoners, immigration detention centres, sex workers and
the criminalisation of HIV transmission. www.appg-aids.org.uk
Prison needle exchange may come in Scotland
The Scottish prison service is considering plans to introduce the UK’s
first prison-based needle exchange programme early next year. It is hoped
the programme, to be piloted at Craiginch Prison in Aberdeen, will reduce
the number of blood-borne infections such as hep C and HIV.
First liver transplant for person with HIV
A Scottish man has become the first HIV positive person in Britain to have
a successful liver transplant. Dr John Forsythe, a surgeon at the Edinburgh
transplant unit, said recipients of such transplants have at least a 50 per
cent chance of surviving five years after the operation.
Media frenzy over married men survey
Ridiculous survey of the month award goes to research that concluded almost
half of British men pay for sex. The journal Sexually Transmitted Infections
said one in four men said they had repeatedly used prostitutes and more than
half with partners said that they had had unprotected vaginal sex. However,
the subsequent media frenzy over the study neglected to say the research was
conducted among men who attended a Glasgow sexual health clinic.
Immigration service arrests bunny rabbit
An early morning raid in Glasgow by an Immigration Enforcement Team and officers
from Strathclyde police netted a pet rabbit called Bugs Bunny, living with
a family from Azerbaijan. Although the family was not at home, the bunny was
detained, and not allowed to contact anyone before being taken away for what
the Home Office officials described as “animal welfare reasons”.
Department tries to block cheap HIV drugs exports
Several UK HIV charities send unwanted antiretroviral drugs to those who need
them in Africa, but the Department of the Environment has threatened to prosecute
charities who do this. You can sign the petition to oppose this at www.gopetition.com/online/9109.html
Arnie vetoes prison condoms
A bill to allow non-profit healthcare agencies to supply condoms to prisoners
in Californian jails has been vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. California’s
prisons currently spend around $14 million per year on antiretrovirals.
Activists seek asylum
At July’s Aids Conference in Toronto, several African delegates sought
asylum in Canada, arguing they would die if they returned to their homelands.
Immigration officials confirmed that 150 delegates had applied for asylum.
Papua New Guinea faces HIV epidemic
In a country with 800 different languages and a 34 per cent literacy rate,
getting the HIV/Aids message across in PNG was never going to be easy. Two
per cent of the population are believed to be infected and infection rates
are now reaching double figures.
Ugandan ARVs ‘left to expire’
Ugandan Aids activists are outraged at discovering that antiretrovirals worth
US $500,000 recently expired in government stores. Between 150,000 and 200,000
Ugandans need the drugs which have a shelf-life of 18 to 24 months. In August
2005, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria suspended grants to Uganda
because of serious mismanagement and political corruption.
