AIDS-Based Discrimination in the Workplace: Issues and Answers

BARNET KUSSNER

ABSTRACT

The problem of Acquired Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) raises complex legal issues in many spheres of human interaction. Primary among these is the degree to which real or perceived AIDS victims can and should be afforded legal protection against discrimination in the workplace. This paper examines the extent to which the common law, the regime of collective bargaining, and various other types of statutory schemes can effectively safeguard the rights of AIDS victims in both the Canadian and American workplace. While the particular form of response in any given jurisdiction is apt to encompass elements of all categories, and will in part depend on the public policy of the jurisdiction in question, it is argued that in the American context, only AIDS-specific statutory regimes are likely to fully rise to the challenges presented by the AIDS crisis. In the Canadian context, it is argued that existing statutes such as the Ontario Human Rights Code may well be sufficient in order to adequately protect AIDS victims from workplace discrimination to the degree that can, and should, prevail.

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Citation: (1989) 47(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 383.
Copyright © 1989. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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