The Workplace: Disclosure and Confidentiality

• Pages: 60-62

Contenidos

• The Issue.
• Legal and Policy Considerations.
• Practice Examples.
• References.

Page 60

The Issue

Discrimination in the workplace may occur when information about an employee's HIV status is revealed to an employer, coworkers, or clients. Employees who are living with HIV often have a strong incentive to keep their HIV status confidential to avoid negative or unfair treatment by their employers and stigmatization by their coworkers. Efforts to compel disclosure of HIV status violate the employee's privacy and autonomy. Furthermore, except in rare circumstances, HIV infection cannot be transmitted through normal workplace interaction, and thus poses no immediate safety risk in the workplace. Laws and policies prohibiting disclosure of HIV status without consent and otherwise limiting access to HIV information can protect HIV-positive persons from potential discrimination in the workplace.

Legal and Policy Considerations

Several types of laws protect the confidentiality of HIV-related information in the workplace. In countries that have enacted generally applicable confidentiality protections for HIV information or medical records, these protections may extend to disclosure of HIV information in the workplace. However, general privacy and confidentiality laws may only apply to HIV information in certain settings (e.g., health care), so it may be necessary to enact HIV confidentiality laws that apply directly to the workplace. These provisions may directly apply confidentiality protections for HIV information in the possession of employers or, alternatively, they may protect employee confidentiality by preventing employers from requiring HIV testing or disclosure by employees of their HIV status. The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work takes a strong position for confidentiality protections and against compelled disclosure. "There is no justification for asking job applicants or workers to disclose HIV-related personal information. Nor should co-workers be obliged to reveal such personal information about fellow workers. Access to personal data relating to a worker's HIV status should be bound by the rules of confidentiality."

Privacy laws with confidentiality provisions that extend to employers may protect medical and insurance reports sent to the employer. Laws and policies also may limit access to HIV information to only those who need to know the information for administering benefits. The ILO Code...