Chinese Court Rules Against Man Who Alleged HIV Discrimination

A Chinese court on Friday ruled against the plaintiff who "says he was denied a teaching job because he is HIV positive," the man's lawyer said, the BBC reports (11/12). According to state media, "[t]he lawsuit alleged city officials denied the plaintiff, a recent college graduate, a teaching job after a medical screening for illnesses including syphilis and hepatitis C revealed he had HIV … after he had already passed written tests and interviews," Agence France-Presse reports (11/12). However, the Canadian Press reports, "Anqing's Yinjiang District Court ruled the city education bureau had correctly followed public service health standards in assessing his unsuitability for the position, lawyer Zheng Jineng said by phone" (Bodeen, 11/12). According to Xinhua, the case was the "Chinese mainland's first employment-related HIV-discrimination case (11/12). Lawyers for the man said they planned to appeal the case, the New York Times reports in an article that describes concerns among HIV/AIDS advocates that "Fridays' ruling will ... provid[e] legal cover for employees who do not want to hire people with HIV" (Jacobs, 11/12).

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