Largely because of combination therapy, more and more HIV-positive people are remaining well and living longer lives. Unfortunately, the discrimination against people living with HIV has not gone away. The workplace remains a major area where this discrimination takes place.  

HIV is only transmitted by blood, certain sexual activities, and from mother-to- baby. Clearly therefore, HIV cannot be transmitted through ordinary social contact. In the vast majority of workplaces there is no risk of HIV transmission. Except for a tiny number of cases among healthcare and laboratory workers, nobody has ever been shown to have contracted HIV in the course of their duties at work.

Nevertheless, from time to time, AIDS panics have broken out in certain workplaces, where employees have refused to work with people who were or were thought to be HIV-positive, or have discriminated against them in other harmful ways. 

There are a number of reports which document the type of discrimination experienced by people who are affected by HIV.  In 2004, the Positive Futures partnership[1] published a report “Can People with HIV Work?” that highlighted the attitudes of employers and employees in the UK towards HIV. The report shows that problems related to HIV and the workplace are widespread and highlights the fact that people with HIV and AIDS are still very vulnerable to employment discrimination.

Also the many HIV organisations still deal with many cases of blatant discrimination against people who are HIV-positive. Discrimination is particularly prevalent amongst employers who do not have HIV policies and amongst organisations outside of London and other major cities.

The key consequences of a failure to plan for HIV in the workplace are likely to be:

• Failure to follow infection procedures in situations where a risk of infection exists.
• Unnecessary disruption in the workplace due to unfounded fears about the risks of HIV infection  - 'AIDS panics'.
• Mistreatment of employees, including discrimination and avoidable breaches of employment law, possibly leading to employment tribunal action.
• Loss of skilled and highly trained staff through discriminatory practices or failure to plan for periods of ill health.

Most of the mistakes that employers have made in relation to HIV and AIDS have been the result of too little forethought and pre-planning. No organisation can legitimately argue that they are not affected by HIV/AIDS in any way.

It is essential that employers and trade unions prepare in advance for problems associated with HIV: strategies to avoid discrimination should be integral to this preparation.