|
 Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue S Minneapolis, MN 55404 Tel: 612-341-2060 Fax: 612-341-4057 info@mnaidsproject.org TTY Metro: 612-373-2465 TTY State: 888-820-2437 Privacy Policy HIV/AIDS Content Notice Check Processing Policy Site Map Account Login |
HIV PolicyResearch shows that people trust HIV info from their employer over any other source.HIV is a real concern for Minnesota businesses. As an employer, you need to be prepared to work with HIV and manage workplace issues involving disability, discrimination, and even worried co-workers. Wise@Work helps you develop your own workplace policy. The guide below will get you started by taking a serious look at your current workplace readiness and helping you develop your own policy. What a workplace policy does:Your policy defines your company’s response to HIV. It sets expectations for employees and prepares managers to handle HIV effectively. It serves employees by being upfront with information to overcome fears, negative reactions and behaviors that can diminish productivity and morale. Some issues that should be addressed in your policy:
Four major HIV issuesThese are four key HIV issues you’re likely to encounter when an employee discloses his or her HIV status:
Issue 1: HIV Can Be Like Other Chronic DiseasesHIV can be like other chronic diseases. People with HIV are living long and productive lives. Many people with HIV live for many years without symptoms — even minor ones. Others cycle through being very sick followed by periods of health. Living with HIV is a challenge to the person with the disease as well as their family and friends.Suggested Responses:Assume your employee will work for years. Knowing your employee will be productive on the job for a long time promotes fairness. It creates a positive environment to deal with the disease. And it keeps capable, productive employees in the workforce.Educate employees about HIV. They need good information about the disease to increase awareness, understanding and good decisions. Provide reasonable accommodations. HIV is a disability. People with HIV can perform the functions of a job if reasonable accommodations are made. Most common are flexible work schedules and time off to meet treatment schedules or to cope with periods of fatigue. Accommodations may also include temporary or permanent reassignment of duties — or providing special equipment for those with physical or visual impairments. Tailor benefits to needs. Most health care insurance plans meet acute needs — but may not serve those with conditions such as HIV. Review your employee benefits. Will an employee with HIV be able to take disability and return to work? Or get preventive and maintenance treatments to forestall illness? How good is the pharmaceutical coverage? Prepare for the possibility of death. Treating HIV as you would a chronic condition is the fairest and most compassionate approach. But it is a fatal disease. Realize co-workers will need ways to say goodbye. Often, stigma or fear of discrimination causes people to hide their loss when someone close to them dies of HIV.
Issue 2: DiscriminationEmployees often are reluctant to disclose their health status to employers for fear of being denied promotions, desirable assignments, losing their jobs and benefits or being isolated by co-workers.Employees with HIV must feel they will be treated fairly if they are to talk to employers about their health. Employers must clearly state intolerance for discrimination and promote understanding of the disease. It takes leadership and training to reduce prejudices, misinformation and fears that may lead your employees to discriminate against a co-worker with HIV. Suggested Responses:Use HIV education to prevent discrimination. An informed workforce will be able to respond with support and understanding to HIV. Education about the disease eliminates unwarranted fears and minimizes the chances for discriminatory behavior. Include HIV information as a part of training that addresses health issues, racial discrimination, sexual harassment or chemical abuse.Create clear anti-discrimination policies. Communicate your policies and values regarding discrimination based on chronic disease and health issues — and how they apply to HIV specifically. Explain chronic disease and HIV. Don’t assume employees will treat HIV like any chronic disease. Unlike people with cancer or heart disease, people with HIV are often negatively judged. Know and act on your legal obligations. The Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) protects people with HIV from discrimination in the workplace. Likewise, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends protections against discrimination to persons with HIV. Both laws also protect those who are perceived as having HIV.
Issue 3: ConfidentialityConfidentiality is closely associated with discrimination issues. Employees fear medical information can be used to discriminate against them. Personnel records, insurance claim forms, benefits reports and conversations with supervisors must be kept confidential.Employers do not have an obligation to inform co-workers. HIV is not transmitted in normal workday activities. Few “need to know” situations exist outside an employee’s request for reasonable accommodations and insurance company notification to ensure benefits. Even when an employee requests reasonable accommodations, a supervisor may simply be informed that an employee qualifies under the ADA without naming the specific disease causing the disability. Those who do know of an employee’s HIV status should keep the information strictly and consistently controlled. Suggested Responses:Ensure that medical information is properly handled. It is essential to have clear policies and procedures in place — and inform employees about these policies to build trust that confidential information is secure.Set clear procedures. Mishandling an employee’s confidentiality regarding HIV sets the stage for discrimination, defamation and invasion of privacy claims. Create procedures that explicitly define what information needs to be shared for business purposes — and with whom. Training for everyone who handles personnel and medical records should be a priority. They need to know how to create a firewall between personnel and employee medical records and information. Create a supportive workplace. When a person with HIV is open about his or her status, it’s easier to make adjustment or offer advice. But risk of disclosure is too great without workplace policies and education promoting fair treatment, confidentiality policies and an informed workforce. Do not require HIV testing for personnel decisions. In most jobs, there is virtually no transmission risk. Unnecessary testing undermines the trust of employees — and creates an environment prone to stigma and discrimination against people with HIV.
Issue 4: Health MaintenanceThe most effective workplace strategies for coping with HIV are prevention — and early intervention. Employee education programs plus health care plans with health maintenance benefits are the best dual response.You should be aware that even in workplaces offering comprehensive health benefits, employees with HIV often do not use their health benefits fearing disclosure through claims reports. They miss getting early intervention — or pay for expenses out-of-pocket rather than disclose their HIV status. On the prevention front, studies show that people place the highest trust in HIV information they get from their employer. Education and training can help reduce the HIV infection rate — and increase understanding to promote productive work environments. Suggested Responses:Encourage employees to use benefits. When employees do not use their benefits they experience problems that impair their effectiveness on the job. They also jeopardize their health without early intervention.Be careful about insurance changes. Adjusting your health plan to control costs may result in restrictive coverage for HIV — but not other chronic diseases. The change may unintentionally restrict access to essential drugs and related diagnostic care. Be careful to avoid discrimination under the ADA and MHRA. Commit to HIV education. Offer workplace HIV education so employees can protect themselves and make informed choices about their behavior. Remember, your employee population turns over. HIV education needs to be repeated on a periodic basis. Pay attention to health reform. Employers have a major role in providing health insurance to most people. Employers also have a major role in shaping the ways health care financing problems are resolved on the state and national level. Employees may have questions about the risk of on-the-job exposure. Education can help them work smart. OSHA standards provide direction for universal precautions. Four major issues | Return to top
Create your workplace policy
Step 1: Conduct your workplace assessment survey to gauge your readiness to work with HIV.Click here to download our workplace assessment survey as a printable .pdf file.
Step 2: Develop your HIV policy.Most workplace policy consists of two parts:Part one is an overview that describes what the policy is about in a few short paragraphs. The overview states your business position on HIV, chronic life-threatening diseases, and identifies the major issues relevant to your workplace.Part two establishes specific procedures to guide supervisors and employees and to clarify expectations. Use this section to expand on the major issues you have identified in your assessment survey, and how your workplace will respond. Get legal and management approval:Consider having your policy reviewed for legal and Equal Employment Opportunity considerations by an attorney. Obtain support from top management, and from union leaders where appropriate, so that final policy is officially endorsed.Policies can be several pages or as short as one page. HIV policies can be woven into exisiting policies with minor revisions. Or they can provide detailed and precise instructions and procedures specific to HIV. Click here to see a sample policy | Click here for more writing tips
Step 3: Communicate your new policy to your employeesShare your final HIV workplace policy with those it serves — your employees. Make sure they know the policy is in place and what it means to them.Begin by educating all managers, supervisors and union leaders about the policy. They need to understand the importance of the policy and how it will be implemented. Engage leaders in your business to build employee awareness and acceptance. Their leadership will establish employees’ confidence in the policy — as well as management’s ability to handle HIV issues with compassion and competence. Consider announcing your new policy in context with HIV information and education. Possible activities include:
More writing tipsHIV Can Be Like Other Chronic IllnessAcknowledge that HIV is a life-threatening disability that can also be very much like a chronic disease — and provide reassurance that your workplace supports employees coping with such diseases. Some companies outline types of reasonable accommodations that may be made. Others use a more generalized approach to handling “reasonable accommodation” situations, such as: “When warranted, reasonable accommodation will be made for employees with HIV unless it would impose an undue hardship on the business.”HIV policies commonly include a statement of acceptable performance standards such as: “As long as these employees are able to perform essential job functions, management is sensitive to their health concerns and will ensure that they are treated as other employees are treated.” (Note: Consider seeking legal advice about providing reasonable accommodation or determining undue hardship.) DiscriminationA single statement can be used to establish a policy that complies with the provisions of the ADA and MHRA, such as: “(Company name) does not discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability with regard to job applications, hiring, advancement, access to special equipment, discharge, compensation, training or other terms, conditions or privileges of employment.” To address co-workers’ concerns, be clear about the company’s response to making reactive changes due to HIV, such as: “Only routine requests for transfer will be considered, not requests based on unfounded fear of transmission or discrimination.”ConfidentialityConfidentiality issues must be addressed in workplace policies. Employers must act in accordance with the ADA, MHRA and other federal, state and local laws to protect the privacy of medical information. Policy language may include: “An employee’s medical information is personal and will be treated as confidential. Reasonable precautions will be taken to protect information regarding an employee’s health records.” You may also choose to describe what precautions and procedures will be used to protect an individual’s private records.Health MaintenanceThis issue balances the needs of co-workers and people with HIV to maintain good health and a productive workplace. Establish an environment for open information, employee education and assistance to deal with HIV questions. Policy statements may include: “(Name of Company) is sensitive and responsive to co-worker’s concerns and emphasizes employee education and information.”Or, “Employees are encouraged to use their company benefits to maintain health and well-being. In addition, employees are encouraged to seek assistance from established community and support groups for medical treatment and counseling services. Information on these resources can be requested confidentially through (name of individual or department).” Create your policy | Return to top Last Updated:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Content Notice: This site contains HIV prevention messages that may not be appropriate for all audiences. Since HIV infection is spread primarily though sexual practices or by sharing needles, prevention messages and programs may address these topics. If you are not seeking such information or materials, please exit this Web site. |
|||
