AIDS in the Workplace: Termination, Discrimination and the Right to Refuse

Not since the days of leprosy has there been a disease so feared and so fatal as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). The lack of knowledge about the disease has merely compounded the problem, so that not only AIDS victims themselves, but also members of perceived "high-risk" groups, face increasing discrimination in all facets of their lives. This paper will focus on only one of these contexts: the workplace. After a review of the current medical knowledge, two principal questions wifl-be examined: (i) What protection does the law give AIDS victims, or members of highrisk groups, against discrimination in employment? (ii) What protection does the law give other employees when working with an AIDS victim or members of a high-risk group?