Employer duties towards employees infected with HIV / AIDS

Abstract

Various pieces of legislation deal with employers’ duties towards employees infected with HIV/AIDS. Generally1 these provisions are worded negatively. On the face of it, therefore, it may appear that these duties relate to what employers may not do. Consequently, there seems to be no legislative imposition on employers to take positive steps to protect the interests and ameliorate the position of such employees. Nevertheless, a closer examination of case law, the common law, various pieces of legislation and soft law in the form of codes, as well as their interaction with one another, demonstrates that despite the negative wording in the legislation, employers are in effect legally obliged to take positive steps to protect not only employees but even applicants for employment infected with the virus.