Health News
2006-02-03
Lambda Legal says
Subway worker was fired due to HIV
Lawsuit says man
was wrongly fired one day after employer learned he is
HIV-positive.
A
A lawsuit filed
Thursday by Lambda Legal claims a Las Vegas manager of a
Subway restaurant was wrongly fired from his job because he
is HIV-positive. The lawsuit, filed in federal
district court, claims that although manager Bob
Hickman had received praise and pay increases for his
performance by the owner of the Subway franchise, he was
fired the day after he revealed his HIV infection to
the company.
"Not only is it
not good business to fire an employee who was rewarded
for high achievement just because that employee has HIV, it
is also against the law," said Jen Sinton, staff
attorney at Lambda Legal and lead attorney on the
case, in a press statement. "Terminating Bob Hickman
because he has HIV flies in the face of established
law and basic science that shows that HIV did not affect our
client's ability to do his job."
Hickman was hired
by Donna Curry Investments as a store manager in
November 2004, earned a merit salary raise shortly after
being hired, and was reassigned to manage a busy Las
Vegas store in December 2004, according to the
lawsuit. Hickman also was praised by franchise owner
Donna Curry, who also serves as franchise developer for the
entire Subway restaurant chain, for his work at the
store, which posted record sales under his leadership.
However, Curry was fired on February 4, 2005, one day
after Curry learned he is HIV-positive.
"My HIV status in
no way interfered with my ability to perform my job,"
Hickman says in a press release. "The one thing that should
have mattered at all to my employer—my job
performance—didn't even seem to enter into
their minds when they fired me because all they cared about
was that I have HIV."
Sinton, a staff
attorney for Lambda Legal's HIV Project, is lead attorney
on the case. She is joined on the case by Jon Givner, Lambda
Legal's HIV Project director, and Caren Jenkins of
Jenkins Law Office in Reno, Nev. The lawsuit seeks
unspecified real and punitive damages.
The lawsuit was
filed through Lambda’s “Blow the
Whistle” campaign to end workplace
discrimination against gays and lesbians and HIV-positive
people. The organization maintains a Web site, at www.lambdalegal.org/btw,
where people who have witnessed workplace
discrimination or feel they’ve been the victim of
discrimination can report their employers to the civil
rights agency. (Advocate.com)
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