EEOC raps hospital. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Baltimore's Veterans Affairs Medical Center lost a $260,000 judgement to a former medical clerk discriminated against by the hospital. The hospital alleged the employee was unreliable and had poor attendance, and the employee lost his home and custody of his daughter after being fired. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found the medical center's position implausible. In addition to the cash award, the EEOC recommended that the employee be reinstated.     

EEOC sues aerospace company over firing of worker with AIDS. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against a New Jersey aerospace company for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). AlliedSignal Aerospace is charged with refusing to provide reasonable accommodations to Richard J. Wiegand, an employee with AIDS, and terminating him when he announced that he was seeking legal counsel. AlliedSignal initially agreed to tailor the employee's schedule and exempt him from overnight business trips, then reneged on the agreement. Following disclosure of Wiegand's diagnosis and intent to seek counsel, the company retaliated. Wiegand's evaluations plummeted and he was fired. Wiegand is now deceased, but the EEOC continues to pursue charges on behalf of his estate.     

EEOC claims employer refused reasonable accommodation. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Spectacor, one of the largest stadium-management companies, on behalf of employee Robert A. Pinard, who claimed his employer refused to grant him flexible work hours to accommodate his AIDS diagnosis. Pinard had submitted a note from one of his doctors stating that Pinard had AIDS and was taking an experimental medicine. The doctors requested some added flexibility in working hours to enable Pinard to prepare special meals and take showers to reduce the discomfort of the experimental medicines he was taking. Spectacor, instead of granting the request, informed Pinard that his job was in jeopardy and that he would be discharged because of absenteeism and declining productivity. The suit alleges Spectacor violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by refusing to grant Pinard a reasonable accommodation for his disability and that the employer had breached its obligation to keep confidential his medical information. Spectacor denied that its refusal to accommodate Pinard's scheduling requests constituted a violation of the ADA.     

EEOC says temporary workers qualify for ADA protection. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidelines clarifying that both employers and staffing agencies can be held liable for discrimination and harassment of temporary or contingent workers. These workers are often viewed as independent contractors, and not employees. The guidance clarifies the employee-employer relationship, holding both the employment firm and the client accountable for discrimination and harassment and offering protection for this class of worker under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other anti-discrimination statutes. The guidance also contains two case examples of how the ADA applies to contractual workers with HIV. The staffing firm and client each must count every worker with whom there is an employment relationship, and are prohibited from discriminating against each other's employees.     

EEOC: benefits application doesn't preclude ADA complaint. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new enforcement guidelines that give employees, including those with AIDS, greater opportunities to press employment discrimination claims in court. An individual may simultaneously be eligible for disability benefits and for legal rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidance was developed and issued following a series of court decisions that blocked plaintiffs in ADA cases from proceeding with litigation because they had received disability benefits. ADA standards differ fundamentally from those of disability programs, such as social security, worker's compensation, and disability insurance.     

EEOC policy statement aids workers seeking to avoid arbitration. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a policy statement condemning a prevalent practice among U.S. employers--new hires are asked to sign an agreement obligating them to submit Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims to binding arbitration. By signing the clause, an employee virtually forfeits his or her rights to bring an ADA claim to court. The EEOC compares these employment clauses to conditions of employment rather than voluntary agreements between worker and employer. Employers argue that the binding arbitration process is fast and equitable. Opponents argue that the process is unfair. The EEOC instructed its investigators to proceed with administrative charges regardless of whether or not the complainant signed a binding arbitration agreement. The EEOC policy statement argues against mandatory arbitration clauses, noting that the arbitration process limits the rights of employees and weighs heavily in favor of employers.     

EEOC sues employer who demanded janitor take HIV test. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit on behalf of a former janitor whose employer, Nelson and Associations, insisted he take an HIV-antibody test and spread rumors that he was HIV-positive. The janitor (known as John Doe) had worked at the Third East Hills Park Cooperative, a low-income housing complex in Pittsburgh, for three years. His employer began speculating about his HIV status when Doe's wife died of AIDS-related complications. The manager of the apartment complex began investigating Doe and asked him to be tested for HIV antibodies. The manager went so far as to call Doe's babysitter to tell her that he thought both Doe and his son were HIV-positive and that she should leave as soon as possible. The lawsuit alleges that Nelson and Association and Third East Hills Park Cooperative violated Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from intrusive medical questions that are unrelated to job performance. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and an injunction barring the defendants from engaging in unlawful medical inquiries and harassing workers based on disability.     

Disclosure of HIV status may be appropriate, EEOC says. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

A policy letter issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allows employers to tell first-aid personnel that an injured employee has AIDS, but only if the disclosure is necessary to protect the worker's health. Such disclosures would be inappropriate if the purpose is to warn emergency workers to provide additional protection.     

Texas hair salon settles suit while another faces EEOC action. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit against the nationally based Regis Corporation after hair stylist "John Doe" was fired shortly after his employer discovered he was HIV-positive. According to EEOC officials, Regis claimed that John Doe was fired for failing to attend a mandatory training class, but the EEOC said the real motivation was the fact that Doe was regarded as disabled. The suit asked the U.S. District Court to enjoin Regis from discharging employees based on their HIV status, reinstate Doe, and order the salon to pay Doe back wages, other compensatory damages, and punitive damages. The lawsuit comes just two months after P.M.K. Corporation, which does business as Cost Cutters of Austin, agreed to pay $13,200 to stylist "Pat Doe," who was fired after her employer discovered she was HIV-positive. The company claimed Pat Doe was terminated because of a layoff, but the EEOC concluded the real reason was her HIV status. Both actions were filed by the EEOC under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An EEOC representative said that the fact that both actions involved hair salons was coincidental.     

EEOC sues freight company for inducing worker with HIV to quit. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued a Japanese freight company, Nippon Express USA, for putting Richard McCullen into a do-nothing job and forcing him to quit. McCullen revealed his HIV status to a supervisor in 1990 while working as a trainer and customer troubleshooter. When his management changed shortly afterwards, he was transferred from Chicago to Indianapolis, presumably for a promotion. However, his responsibilities were reduced, his telephone and computer were taken away from him, and co-workers were ordered not to speak to him. Following surgery, a supervisor told McCullen that his appearance was causing problems. The lawsuit was filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and seeks unspecified damages, training programs for managers and staff in dealing with HIV-positive employees, and guaranteed health care coverage for the rest of McCullen's life.     

Guidelines for making health education work.

The results of a number of studies which have indicated the limited effectiveness of health education efforts using the mass media are reviewed. The cause of these failures, according to the authors was the inability to apply a number of principles of effective design to the instructional materials used in the mass media. The basic slide show produced by the neighborhood health center for its own population may be more effective than a nationally televised spot announcement because locally prepared material can be sharply focused on the learner''s characteristics and the specifically desired outcome behavior. The authors list 10 guidelines for the construction of effective instructional materials: define outcome measures, analyze relevant characteristics of the learner, gain and maintain the learner''s attention, establish the learner''s vulnerability, demonstrate the needs for action, establish the learner as an agent, establish the learner''s effectiveness, provide for practice, repeat key facts, and generalize to similar situations. The principles of social reinforcement that must accompany health education instruction if behavior is to be modified are outlined. How environmental factors such as time, distance, expense, and the organization of health services hamper desired behavior outcomes is also discussed.     

The making of AIDS news

This study is part of the overall research effort on the role of the media in making sense of events in late modernity. The main objective is to investigate the context in which news about AIDS is produced at the interface between norms for producing news (as expressed by professional journalists) and an analysis of news stories published in four mainstream Brazilian newspapers. The results are organized in three broad topics: (a) the construction of news about AIDS; (b) the visibility of AIDS news during the study period; and (c) factors that facilitate or hinder the production of AIDS news. Important factors include exclusiveness of the story and/or novelty of the content, the notion of hot (or cold) news, and the specific contents. The authors also emphasize the inevitable chance elements associated with organizational characteristics and daily journalism. They conclude by pointing to recent changes in both the shape of the AIDS epidemic and the communications dynamics resulting from recent developments in the electronic media.