Arbitration board rules against HIV-positive man suspended from work

A man with HIV in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday lost his arbitration case addressing job discrimination against HIV-positive individuals. The local labor dispute arbitration committee in Guangzhou on Wednesday dismissed the request of plaintiff Ah Ming (pseudonym) that he be given his job back because he was suspended from work at a public institution in Guangzhou after being found to be HIV positive during a physical exam in April. The arbitration committee stated in its ruling that it believes infectious disease prevention and treatment regulations stipulating that HIV-positive individuals should be quarantined until they are proven to no longer be infectious are still in effect, so the employer's decision is appropriate. Disappointed by the result, Ah Ming told the Global Times on Thursday that he will ask the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), which issued the regulations on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, to explain its reasons for requiring people living with HIV to be treated in quarantine. Qiu Hengyu, Ah Ming's attorney, said his client will lodge an appeal against his employer, most likely at the People's Court of Baiyun district, Guangzhou. "The Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases already excludes HIV carriers from those needing to be treated in quarantine," Qiu told the Global Times on Thursday. "However, the arbitration committee totally ignored a law that was passed by the National People's Congress, while citing the regulation only," Qiu added. "The Rules on AIDS Prevention and Treatment have been in effect for 10 years since 2006. But their goal of ensuring HIV carriers' equal employment rights has never been achieved," Peng Yanhui, director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, told the Global Times.