Aidshilfe calls for a legal ban on HIV tests in working life

The German Aidshilfe has called for a legal ban on HIV tests in working life. “Some employers still believe that they should simply exclude people with  HIV  and thus cause them serious harm,” explained Board Member Sven Warminsky on Thursday in Berlin on the occasion of World AIDS Day. The federal government must therefore create legal certainty.

HIV cannot be transmitted in everyday working life, and because of the  medication that is now available,  an infection no longer has to restrict performance at work, emphasized the Aidshilfe. In any case, with effective HIV therapy, which is the norm today, the virus can no longer be transmitted. An exclusion of HIV-infected people is already inadmissible today and represents a legally prohibited form of discrimination.

Nevertheless, some employers still rely on HIV tests in hiring processes or ask about a possible infection, criticized the Aidshilfe. It therefore requires an “express prohibition” of such measures. “It’s time that people who are responsible for personnel no longer orientate themselves on irrational fears and reservations, but on scientific knowledge,” explained Warminsky.