Most people living with HIV will never experience any problems at work because of their HIV status.

But stigma and discrimination can occur in the forms of breaches of confidentiality, gossip, being left out of activities, or even losing your job after your employer finds out you are living with HIV.

“I don’t disclose in my work environment. I don’t trust them not to think that I am not as good a teacher because I am positive. I don’t trust them to be broad minded enough to forget the HIV.”

It’s therefore good to know that the Equality Act provides very important protections at work to people with HIV. The protection covers recruitment, terms and conditions of employment, the way you are treated at work, and opportunities for job development and promotion.

For the purposes of the law, people with diagnosed HIV are considered to have a disability and cannot be discriminated against because of their health status.

But there are two important exceptions. Healthcare workers with HIV can be excluded from jobs such as surgery and dentistry. Also, people with HIV can be excluded from the armed forces.

When applying for a job, you may be asked to complete an equal opportunities monitoring form which asks if you have a disability. The form should be handled separately from your job application and treated in confidence. Nonetheless, you are not obliged to complete this form or answer this question.

In most cases, the employer is not permitted to ask more detailed questions about your health before making a job offer. However, once a job offer is made, the employer may ask you to complete a more detailed medical questionnaire.

While many people choose not to disclose their HIV status, dishonesty at this stage could be considered grounds for termination of employment. On the other hand, if the employer withdrew an initial job offer after learning that you are living with HIV, you may be able to show that this was illegal discrimination.

“Now the law has changed, they can’t ask about your medical history prior to the interview, so that might make me slightly more inclined to apply for another job.”

If an employer asks your doctor for a medical report, you need to give permission before a report is sent.  

Your employer is also legally obliged to protect the confidentiality of private information that it holds about you.

Most people find that living with HIV doesn’t make any difference to their ability to do their job at all. But if HIV does make doing the job more difficult, then you can ask for what’s called a ‘reasonable adjustment’. For example, some people have asked for time off to go to their medical appointments. And others have asked for flexible working hours when they’ve had trouble with treatment side-effects.

HIV support organisations have helped people with HIV secure fair treatment at work. Two leaflets explaining the rights of people with HIV at work have been produced by NAT, called HIV+ Recruitment and HIV @ Work.