Dive Brief:

• A Subway restaurant in the midwest is in hot water with the EEOC after firing a worker who is HIV positive.
• According to the EEOC complaint, the Subway restaurant owner hired the employee (John Doe in the lawsuit) at a Sheridan, Ind., Subway restaurant on January 1st, 2015. Twelve days later, John Doe informed his supervisor he was HIV positive.
• Court documents say the supervisor responded, "What if you cut yourself?" and "What about if our customers find out?" Then, on February 14th, he received a call from his supervisor informing him that the manager felt that he might be a "liability to the company" and fired him.

Dive Insight:

EEOC attorney Nancy Edmonds told TV station WTHR there exists a stereotype that people who are in the restaurant business are contagious and that people can contract HIV through food. "I think it's important for the public to see that discrimination occurs, especially for people who are HIV positive," Edmonds told WTHR.

WTHR reports that the EEOC says it could not reach an agreement with the Subway shop owner about putting John Doe back to work. The lawsuit not only calls for back pay but also punitive damages saying the owner violated John Doe's federally protected rights. Laurie Young, who represents John Doe, said he was "fully capable of working and was experienced in the restaurant industry....he was terminated solely because of stereotypes his employer had regarding persons with HIV."

Before making a decision like this, employers should check out the CDC data on HIV.