A man in Clarksville, Ind. who was “fully qualified to work as a police officer” didn’t get the job because of his HIV status, federal authorities said.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Clarksville, saying that the town’s police department “unlawfully revoked a job offer to a qualified law enforcement officer based on his Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) diagnosis,” which constitutes a violation of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals on the basis of disability — which includes withdrawing a job offer to a qualified individual based on unsupported and stereotypical views of the applicant’s disability.
The man, who wasn’t identified in the lawsuit, worked as a volunteer reserve officer for the town’s police department for over a year, before he decided to formally apply for a position.
According to the complaint, in October 2015 he received a conditional offer of employment as a police officer — a job that was contingent on his passing a state-mandated medical exam.
The man told his medical examiner that he was “under a physician’s care for treatment of his HIV and was taking prescribed antiretroviral medications.”
HIV is a virus that can weaken the immune system when untreated. Thanks to improvements in the effectiveness of treatments, people with HIV who regularly take antiretroviral therapy medication can keep the virus suppressed and live long and healthy lives.
In fact, according to the lawsuit, the examiner noted that the man had “no long-term evidence of active disease” from his HIV, and had no other notable health issues.”
About a month later, however, he received a letter saying that the job offer had been revoked because he hadn’t passed the “statewide baseline test” required by the Indiana Public Retirement System.
For the next 15 months, the man tried to appeal “his erroneous disqualification,” hoping to be rehired as a Clarksville police officer — which never happened, even after the force acknowledged that he was in fact qualified for the job.
According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Clarksville engaged “in discriminatory employment policies and practices that violate Title I of the ADA.”
“Those who are qualified and seek to serve their communities should not be subjected to unlawful discrimination. Individuals living with HIV are entitled to the full protection of our anti-discrimination laws,” Zachary Myers, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a statement. “Our office will work closely with our partners in the Civil Rights Division to ensure that those who seek to serve the public are not unlawfully discriminated against.”
This case is being handled by DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana based on a referral from the Indianapolis District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“No qualified individual should lose a hard-earned career opportunity because of misguided views about their disability that are not supported by medicine or science,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the department’s Civil Rights Division.
“This lawsuit reflects the Justice Department’s firm commitment to protecting qualified workers, including those with HIV, from unlawful employment discrimination,” she added.
