HIV carriers still suffer job discrimination (3)

Xiao Wu's case triggered a huge wave of controversy among scholars and the public. Many of the questions centered on the legal suitability of the criteria, in other words, whether the criteria for civil servants could be applied to the recruitment of teachers.

China has seen in total four cases of AIDS patients suing against employment discrimination on account of their condition. The cases were similar in that all of the claimants sought teaching posts. They had all passed the exams and interviews and were declined by the local education bureau due to their HIV-positive status.

Legal confusion

"The laws are self-contradictory. They applied the Physical Examination Criteria for Recruitment of Civil Servants when they recruited a teacher and prohibited AIDS patients from becoming a teacher or a public servant, but according to the Regulation on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, the legal rights for people living with HIV/AIDS should be protected, including the rights of marriage, employment, medical treatment and education," said Yu Fangqiang, director of Tianxiagong.

In November last year, six lawyers sent a letter to the State Council, requesting that legislators review the Physical Examination Criteria for Recruitment of Civil Servants and delete related clauses that prohibited people living with HIV/AIDS from working in the government sector, in order to protect the equal rights of AIDS patients.

There had been no response from the State Council over the issue as of press time.

Xiao Qi now works as a salesman, with a monthly salary of around 1,000 yuan. Xiao said he felt sad that after all his years of education, he failed to find his ideal job.

Xiao Wu ended up working in a privately run primary school in Anqing by hiding his condition. The high pressure of work and insecurity of the job has left him exhausted.

"Private schools can sack you at any time," Xiao Wu complained, adding that he used to be overloaded with classes all day long.

"We have to live behind masks. I have to keep a distance from my colleagues and students. I am worried they might find out about my illness," Xiao Wu told the Global Times.

"The central and local governments should make a specific regulation on what type of jobs people with communicable diseases, including AIDS, can do and what kinds of jobs they can't," said Hong Daode, a criminal procedure law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law.