Dionne Rose, Staff ReporterPERSONS WHO have lost their jobs because they have tested positive for HIV/AIDS are reluctant to seek redress because of the fear of stigmatisation and discrimination.
This is according to Neville Moodie, director of the Industrial Safety Department in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security who in an interview with The Gleaner admitted of such reports being made to the ministry.
"Early this year we had two cases but they didn't want to go public and these persons eventually died," he said.
JAMAICAN WORKERS
He explained that the Jamaican workers who are dismissed because of his/her HIV/AIDS status are put at a disadvantage because there was presently no law to protect them.
Mr. Moodie disclosed though, that in the absence of this law, the ministry was working closely with the Public Defender, Howard Hamilton to seek redress for persons who have been dismissed in this way.
Another challenge he said being faced is the difficulty in proving these cases. "If an employer decides to fire you, he is not going to write a letter and say it is because of HIV, he is going to find some other excuse. So, it is very difficult to pinpoint that that is the reason," he said.
Keith Comrie, assistant general secretary of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) said that the dismal of staff because they have been tested positive for HIV/AIDS does happen but it was not "rampant".
GENUINE FEAR
He confirmed that there was genuine fear in the public to report these cases. "I know of companies (that) have said that other workers resent working with these persons (who are HIV positive). They don't take the blame. They put it on their staff," he said.
Mr. Comrie said that the State must protect these persons and that civil society must accept these persons. Meanwhile, Mr. Moodie said that by next year, the National HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy should go before Parliament by sometime next year and will have provisions in place to protect the worker from this type of dismissal.
Both Mr. Moodie and Mr. Comrie were panellists who participated on a discussion on HIV/AIDS in the Workplace at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security last Friday at the Access to Information Open Day, organised by the Access to Information Unit.
