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Hepatitis C & Job Security

Nearly 5 million Americans have Hepatitis C, a disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), Hepatitis Central reports. There's no vaccine for the virus. It can take decades for symptoms to materialize, and by the time they do, the liver can already be damaged. People who know about their illness, and who experience symptoms, are vulnerable to job discrimination and can find their job security compromised.

  1. Significance

    • Ignorance surrounding HCV infection can have lasting consequences for employees with the disease, leading to job loss and permanent unemployment. Employers and fellow employees alike tend to assume that coworkers with HCV are infectious and far less productive than their healthy counterparts. The facts don't tend to bear this out, Hepatitis Central reports. What's more, discriminating against HCV-infected individuals is unlawful and not tolerated in the marketplace.

    Ignorance About Transmission

    • It's impossible to contract HCV through casual contact with an infected individual, but ignorance as to how the disease is passed on is perpetuated in society at large, and this is mirrored in the workplace. The Mayo Clinic says infection can take place when contact is made with blood from an infected person. Before 1992, the safety of the blood transfusions with respect to HCV was in question. Since that time, the blood supply has been deemed safe thanks to improved screening methods. HCV can be passed via needle between drug users, and in extremely rare cases, people have contracted HCV through sexual contact.

    Fear of HCV

    • According to Hepatitis Central, workplace discrimination against people with hepatitis C is based in a defensive reaction to people who harbor disease in general. Sickness simply makes certain people uneasy. Pure and simple, it's how some people cope with a situation that sparks their fear of disease and death. People who are afraid of contracting disease, and even dying, themselves will exhibit little empathy for people they see as potentially passing illness to others.

    Justifying Bias

    • A survey conducted by Transaction Network Services and Synovate reveals that employees with HCV are not necessarily less productive or take less time off from their jobs than do their healthy coworkers. Employers can use poor productivity and low attendance to justify bias. However, there's no reason to believe that a worker with hepatitis C performs less well than anyone else. Although the survey showed 44 percent of HCV respondents taking time off from work, there was no point of comparison with healthy workers, who might very well take off just as much time.

    Considerations

    • The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects Americans with HCV from being discriminated against on the job. Employers are obligated to make reasonable allowances for disabled individuals, assuming the employers will not experience excessive hardship. Direct and indirect discrimination are equally disallowed.

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