Fast-food worker ‘sacked after boss discovered he had HIV’, lawsuit claims
A WAITER is suing a restaurant chain after his boss allegedly fired him for being HIV-positive.
Armando Gutierrez was a server at a Big Biscuit restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas when he was diagnosed with HIV in December 2018.
Shortly after, he asked his manager to sign a form in order to get HIV medication from a state program, according to the lawsuit obtained by CNN.
A day later he was transferred to another location and scheduled to work Sundays, despite his employer knowing his new hours conflicted with “family commitments,” the complaint says.
When Gutierrez told the restaurant he couldn’t work that schedule he was fired.
“Almost immediately upon learning of Plaintiff’s medical diagnosis, management changed his schedule in such a way that it knew he could not continue to work,” the lawsuit states.
‘BREAKS THE LAW’
The suit, which seeks back pay and damages, alleges that the firing violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Gutierrez wasn’t given a warning before his termination, and was told he “did well and management liked his work” during the year he worked at the restaurant, according to the complaint.
A 1998 Supreme Court ruling made it illegal for employers to discriminate against people with HIV and AIDS or rumored to be HIV-positive.
Almost immediately upon learning of Plaintiff’s medical diagnosis, management changed his schedule in such a way that it knew he could not continue to work
Lawsuit
HIV is most commonly transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person, perinatally from an infected mother to child, or through tainted needles or syringes from drug use, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
A person can’t contract the disease by eating food handled by an HIV-positive person.
“Even if the food contained small amounts of HIV-infected blood or semen, exposure to the air, heat from cooking, and stomach acid would destroy the virus,” the CDC says.
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Although the number of annual new HIV infections have declined over the past decade, myths and stigmas surrounding the disease contribute to ongoing job discrimination against workers living with HIV.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commision (EEOC), who Gutierrez filed a complaint with this year, said it received 195 claims of bias because of the disease in 2018.
The EEOC filed HIV discrimination lawsuits against two Texas employers.