Wise @ Work E-News Update

News and information from the Minnesota AIDS Project’s workplace program

March 2006 Issue

Wise @ Work is a service of the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP). Wise @ Work can help answer your questions about managing HIV in the workplace and employee care. We also provide on-site HIV training, and consultation on smart, fair workplace policies and procedures.

We hope you find this update informative and useful! If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact Wise @ Work or call 1-800-248-2437.

In This Issue

• Workplace Case Study: Disclosure in the Workplace
• Wise @ Work Hot Issue Memo: Going back to work when you’re HIV-positive
• Tips and Resources
• Getting the Word Out: Wise @ Work in the community
• HIV & the Workplace News
• Wise @ Work Web Links
   

Workplace Case Study

Disclosure in the Workplace

Recently, a court case important to HIV-positive individuals advanced to the trial stage in California. Three HIV-positive flight attendants applied for jobs with American Airlines. The airline made “conditional offers” via written letter to the flight attendants, who were then directed to the next stage of their hiring process: drug testing, background check, and medical examination. The applicants were given consent forms to sign for drug testing as well as forms to document their medical histories. A nurse spoke with each applicant individually, and asked about medications. None of the applicants disclosed their HIV status or their HIV medications. Then, the airline required the applicants to take a blood test, without revealing that the blood drawn would be used to get a complete blood count or obtaining written consent or providing notice regarding these blood tests.

The applicants’ blood tests revealed elevated MCV levels, which, according to the airline’s medical expert, result from alcoholism, medications for HIV, seizures, chemotherapy, transplants, and sickle cell, bone marrow, and folate and liver disorders. Since nothing in the medical histories of the applicants indicated a specific cause for the elevated MCV levels, the airline requested explanations for the results. All of the applicants disclosed their HIV status and medications through their personal physicians.

After the tests, the employees’ conditional offers were rescinded, because they “did not meet AA medical guidelines” and they “failed to be candid or provide full and correct information.”

The ADA and FEHA laws bar intentional discrimination and regulate the sequence of employers' hiring processes.

Employers are prohibited by law from asking applicants about their disability and from denying employment to a disabled person because of the disability. A disability cannot be a reason to deny employment to a person who can fulfill the essential functions of the job. An HIV diagnosis would not interfere with a flight attendant’s essential job duties.

Here in Minnesota, we’ve heard stories of job applicants asked directly about their HIV status. Some employees respond to visual “physical cues”—applicants who might, to them, look ill, very thin, or even, in their mind, appear to be gay—when they decide to ask an applicant about their HIV status. We’ve heard this story most often from clients who have tried unsuccessfully to work in a food service establishment. This is a signal that many employers are still misinformed about how HIV can and cannot be transmitted. HIV cannot be transmitted through food or through everyday workplace activity, including workplaces devoted to food service. Using visual and physical cues to deny an HIV-positive person (or any other disabled person) a job is just as unfair as using an HIV-positive result from a mandatory blood test for potential employees. Since HIV does not interfere with everyday work activity, a blood test before a job offer in order to screen out possible HIV-positive employees is both unnecessary and is increasingly, according to case law, illegal.

The American Airlines case was allowed to go to trial for very simple reasons. The blood test (any medical test) for applicants is allowed, but most, according to the court, come at the end of the application process. This is so courts and human rights enforcement agencies can determine if the medical exam was not the reason for rejection.

If the test happens before the end of the process, one would never really know if it were the reason for rejection, despite any protestation to the contrary from the employer. The federal ADA law requires a two-step hiring process in sequence: the non-medical condition stage must precede the medical exam stage.

This case set precedent in the California, but must go through similar litigation in Minnesota to be operative here. Like California, the Minnesota law is on the side of people with disabilities in the application process, and both the federal ADA and the state MNHRA offer protection in this area.

Source: http://library.findlaw.com/2005/Mar/30/231149.html
 

Wise @ Work Hot Issue Memo

Going back to work when you’re HIV-positive

Going back to work offers HIV-positive individuals a unique opportunity to think creatively about their work future.

Your Job, Your Career

Previous careers you’ve had may not be appropriate for you right now:

• They may not be a healthy choice. Obvious physical demands may be too much, and less obvious physical demands, such as typing or retail, may impact someone with neuropathy more than expected.
• Don’t return to a job you did not like in the first place. Just like anyone else, it is better to find something you like to do.

What do you really want to do?

If you have been unemployed for long periods of time and have adapted professionally and financially, you may have more freedom to work at a job you like rather than one you need just to stay afloat. You may be able to work at non-profits, return to school, or even start a business on your own.

• Find out what jobs and job training opportunities are available in your area.
• Assess your professional strengths and weaknesses.
• Make a checklist to help discover the potential for achieving your objective.
• Be specific about your interests.
• Take a special look at criteria that you may think is not important. For example: how long is your commute?
• Be sure to include important information. For example: what’s your minimum acceptable income?

Your Job, Your Benefits

If you’re thinking about going back to work:

• Do not rush into a decision. Take your time to become informed.
• Expect lots of paperwork
• Contact your case manager or a vocational counselor. They can help determine which choice is right for you.
• Understand your current financial picture.

Returning to work may impact state and federal assistance programs for which you are eligible. Discuss this with your case manager or representative from the program organization. Review the following summaries of programs and benefits that may be impacted by returning to work:

SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance)

If you receive SSDI, you may be eligible for a work incentive program that allows you to return to work without an immediate cutoff or reduction of benefits. However, you must first be sure that the Social Security Administration (SSA) makes an official determination that you are disabled.

SSI (Supplementary Security Income)

If you receive SSI, once you go to work, your monthly earnings immediately impact your SSI payment. If you return to work or increase your work activity before you receive an award letter, your benefit may be denied.

Private Disability Income

If you receive private short-term and long-term disability benefits, be sure to review all literature provided by your insurance company. Take a close look at individual policy language to gauge the effect of going back to work on disability payments. Ask your insurance company for a copy of your policy. If you cannot find guidelines for returning to work, contact the company for specific information on how working would affect your benefits.

Health Insurance

The following programs could be impacted if you return to work:

Financial Assistance

The following programs could be impacted if you return to work:

Housing
The following programs could be impacted if you return to work:

Employment Services
To help determine if your return to work is feasible and to help you find work

The following programs could be impacted if you return to work:

For more detailed information on the impact of work on benefits for HIV-positive workers, please refer to MAP’s publication Working & Living with HIV: Employment and Benefits Resource Guide for People Living with HIV. You can receive a copy of this brochure by contacting Wise @ Work via email: Wise @ Work or call 1-800-248-2437.
 

Tips and Resources

One of the most common issues HIV-positive people face when returning to work is the gap in employment on their resume. How do you best handle an interruption in employment due to your HIV status? Here are some important points to remember:

• An employment gap is no more or less detrimental than not having a degree or the absence of a specific qualification.
• The important point is to keep the focus on the positive.
• On a practical level, gaps in employment can sometimes be filled with references to volunteer work or entrepreneurial activity and a well-written resume can frequently hide or downplay the problem.
• To handle interview questions about gaps, while that can be difficult, be sure your answers are truthful. For some PLWHAs without any recent job assignments or volunteer activity to fill a gap, a simple, non-defensive response along the lines of "I've been ill, but my health is strong, and I'm excited about getting back to work" works well.
• Actually, employment gaps are of less concern to employers than are drastic career changes. Overcoming employer concerns in this matter requires an unambiguous statement of job and career objectives from the job seeker. Career changers are also advised to emphasize that they sought advice and counsel and made such a major decision only after long and careful reflection on personal goals, skills, and market needs.
• A unique characteristic of PLWHAs who are seeking to return to work is that, without coercion or force, they are voluntarily trying to change their lives.

Source: http://thebody.com/bp/mar01/working.html
 

Getting the Word Out

Wise @ Work in the community

Kick Off the 2006 Minnesota AIDS Walk with Poster Blast!

We want everyone to know about the Minnesota AIDS Walk! You can help by volunteering to distribute promotional materials to businesses and community centers in the Twin Cities metro area.

Round up some friends and stop by MAP during the next Poster Blast to pick up a bag of materials and select the area you would like to cover. We’ll even get you started with bagels and coffee!

Poster Blast – Saturday, April 1, 9:30 AM

Volunteers will need their own transportation. To participate, please RSVP to Jessica at 612-373-9160 or volunteer@mnaidsproject.org.
 

Register for AIDS Action Day TODAY!

Calling All HIV Advocates!

Where will you be on Tuesday, April 4? Why not mosey on down to the Capitol for a day of advocacy? We all want to stop HIV and this is a great opportunity to remind elected officials that they want to stop HIV, too! It’s common sense, but without your voice HIV policy can get lost in the day-to-day shuffle of policy issues at the Capitol. Visualize HIV advocates from around the state coming together to increase awareness, advocating for effective HIV prevention and common sense health care and having their voices heard. Will your voice be heard?

Register for AIDS Action Day 2006
 

Wise @ Work Presentations

If you would like a Wise @ Work presentation in your workplace, please contact:
Wise @ Work or call 1-800-248-2437.
 

HIV & the Workplace News

Just call him “Robert,” a man living with HIV

"It's not something you want people to know," he said. "People with AIDS don't wear a T-shirt that says that they've got it. If you saw me on the street you would never know."
 

Barbers spread the word on AIDS

When men settle into Ram's barber chair in New Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market, they briefly become captive to what Ram calls his ''real mission''—to help them avoid the deadly virus that has infected 5.13 million people in this country of a billion people.
 

“Doing something to help”

After a shave, wave, weave or nail tips, many of the style-conscious in the city also can reach into a nearby basket for a bonus that could save their lives.
 

Wise @ Work Web Links

Great information and advice for your job search and going back to work:

www.bkohlenberg.com/BKadvice.htm
 

Your state resource for job training, vocational rehabilitation, and much more—Minnesota WorkForce Centers in your community:

www.mnwfc.org

Last Updated: Monday, November 12, 2007
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