|
|
 |
The facts on HIV/AIDS and your domestic worker
Jo-Anne Smetherham. 08 November 2004. Daily News. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
|
Growing numbers of employers are tricking or pressuring their domestic workers into having HIV tests - and then firing them if they test positive.
HIV tests done without the patient's consent are illegal. It is also illegal to refuse somebody a job or fire her because she has HIV. This has happened to a "significant number" of domestic workers, says Liesl Gerntholtz of the AIDS Law Project.
"The AIDS Law Project is currently working on four cases and there must be many more in South Africa. We get calls about this every month. And we're a non-government organisation based at a university, so only educated women would know about us.
"These dismissals are unlawful discrimination against a very vulnerable group. It's terrible that this is happening. It is a serious problem."
Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South Africa Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, called upon employers to "go for HIV/AIDS counselling" with their domestic worker, if he or she has HIV.
"I can understand that an employer with a small baby, for example, might feel that employing somebody who has HIV is a risk.
"But it's so very small. The employer and domestic worker should learn how to cope, then there would be no need for a dismissal."
Domestic worker Dorothy Tshaka (name has been changed) - who won R15 000 in an out-of-court settlement several weeks ago - urged her lawyers to broadcast her story to encourage other domestic workers in her position.
Tshaka saw herself "as a dead person" when she heard that she had HIV two years ago. By law, a health worker should have briefed her on her status. Instead she heard it from her Sandton employer - who had taken her for an HIV test on the pretext of wanting to help her get medical cover, she told the labour court.
Tshaka was not given any counselling before or after the test and had no idea why she had to give a blood sample, she told the court.
One of several domestic workers at the house, she had been employed at R1 200 a month to clean and look after her employer's child. She challenged her dismissal at the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration but there was no conclusion, because her employer did not attend the hearings.
She then approached the labour court, and three weeks ago was awarded the R15 000, which she plans to spend on building a house.
"She wanted the news of her case to get around," said her investigating attorney Richard Moultrie of Bowman Gilfillan attorneys, which took on Tshaka's case on a pro bono basis, says: "She was awarded a significant amount".
"The case is important because it's a sign to employers that they must take their employees' rights seriously." |
| Was this article helpful to you? |
 ?100%???? ?0%
|
|
Back
|
|
|
|
