AIDS and employment

[Dave A]

I was wondering if anyone has a view on employment issues around people infected with AIDS?

What got me thinking was this story.

A union representing South African soldiers is to take the country's armed forces to court on Thursday over alleged discrimination against HIV-infected personnel, the union said on Wednesday.

The South African Security Forces' Union (Sasfu) accuses the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) of discriminating against HIV-infected people by refusing them employment, promotion or deployment to foreign posts.

"They have got a policy of mandatory testing. Being HIV-negative is a pre-requisite to gain employment in the SANDF," said Sasfu deputy president Charles Jacobs.

He said after being employed, members of the military had to undergo mandatory HIV testing once a year during a health assessment, and every time they applied for a promotion or deployment overseas.

Jacobs said South Africa was the only country in the world whose military operated under these "unconstitutional" policies.

With five-and-a-half million HIV infections in a population of 48-million, South Africa has one of the world's worst Aids problems, and according to Khumalo up to 35% of defence-force personnel were infected in 2004.
full story from M&G here

It looks like one of those fuzzy issues to me with no clear-cut answer. It's all very well saying the employee (or prospective employee) should not be discriminated against, but poor health of an employee can prejudice the employer too.

What am I missing here?

[duncan drennan]

Surely it just doesn't make logical sense to employ someone in the SANDF who is potentially unhealthy? They also don't employ pilots with bad vision - is that discrimination? I suppose it is really a question of how the health issue affects your ability to carry out your job.

[wynn]

Yes they dont employ people who:-
are too fat
are too short
are amputees
are disabled
are physically unfit
are mentally challenged
etc. etc.