Inevitably, HIV/AIDS has taken its toll on workforces, production systems, markets, and local communities. As a result, companies of all types face higher costs in terms of training, insurance benefits, absenteeism and illness. Based on feedback from members of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and through IOE's extensive business networks, this handbook documents selected initiatives in the workplace designed to minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS and to maximize prevention efforts. These include educating employees about HIV/AIDS, promoting changes in attitudes and behavior towards sex, and in some cases, establishing care and treatment programs to treat workers and families. The handbook also provides details of results obtained and lessons learned by employers worldwide.
This handbook serves as a guide to companies in the establishment and strengthening of HIV/AIDS programme in the workplace. HIV/AIDS policies are beneficial for the corporate image, as the signs of social responsibility help enhance the company's reputation with internal and external customers.
NPIN 17509: This brochure discusses HIV/AIDS in the workplace from the point of view of employers and managers through a question-and- answer format. The impact of HIV infection on the work force is outlined through statistics, as are the ways in which employers can prepare their organizations for HIV-positive employees. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is outlined, and reasonable accommodations are defined. Modes of HIV transmission are presented, as are ways HIV cannot be transmitted. Confidentiality issues of employees' HIV status are also explained.
Aids and the Workplace: Resources for Workers, Managers, and Employers is designed to facilitate policy and education efforts regarding HIV infection and AIDS in the workplace. Produced jointly by the National AIDS Information Clearinghouse (NAIC) and the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS, this resource guide is intended to serve as a starting point for organizations developing onsite education programs on AIDS and the workplace. It can be used to locate and obtain materials to inform employees about HIV transmission and prevention, or to help dissipate worker's fear about contracting the disease from a colleague who has HIV infection or AIDS.
Health experts estimate that one million people in the United States are HIV positive, but new medical treatments allow many to work for years after contracting the AIDS virus. Drawing on the most comprehensive and up-to-date information now available on the complex legal and ethical issues related to AIDS, attorney William F. Banta explains employers', employees', and applicants' rights and responsibilities as defined by the new Americans with Disabilities Act, OSHA, COBRA, the National Labor Relations Act, state and local laws, arbitration awards, and the Centers for Disease Control. He clarifies the complex issues of hiring, firing, insuring, and testing applicants and employees with the AIDS virus. More than any other group of employees, physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health care workers have generated concern about transmitting or acquiring HIV on the job. While the risk of actual infection is very low for medical practitioners, and even more remote for patients, health care employers should develop policies and procedures to guide them through complex and sensitive situations and limit their liability in the event of a legal challenge. They must balance the infected employee's right to work against the obligation to protect the patient. They must weigh the obligation to treat infected patients against the right of employees to safe working conditions. They must consider the right of an employee or patient to know the HIV condition of the other, as well as the infected person's right to confidentiality. William Banta cuts through the medical, legal, and ethical morass to analyze these matters with clarity. The extensive appendix of laws and regulations, governmentrecommendations, checklists, and sample policies will assist readers in developing or evaluating their own workplace procedures. Workers who are HIV positive, managers, union officials, attorneys, and physicians, will find valuable advice on one of the most urgent problems of the 1990s.
It has been estimated that 90% of those who are HIV positive are in employment. This text provides a historical and international review of the theoretical and practical issues which bear upon organisational responses to HIV/AIDS.
