U.S. Unveils AIDS Policy for Employees : Guidelines Prohibit Discrimination, Let Victims Stay on Job

The government today unveiled policy guidelines for its 3 million employees that prohibit discrimination against AIDS victims and allow them to work as long as they are able.

The Office of Personnel Management, which sets standards for all government workers except those in the armed forces, sent a memo to all its agencies on how to deal with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the deadly disease that has mainly affected homosexuals and drug addicts.

The directive says employees with AIDS “should be allowed to continue working as long as they are able to maintain acceptable performance and do not pose a safety-of-health threat to themselves or others in the workplace.”

OPM Director Constance Horner said the federal government “has an obligation to show the way in addressing the realities of the AIDS epidemic.”

The guidelines instruct federal agencies to treat AIDS-infected employees “in the same manner as employees who suffer from other serious illnesses.” They also say there is “no medical basis for employees refusing to work with such fellow employees or agency clients.”

Disciplinary Option

If an employee’s threat or refusal to work with an AIDS-infected co-worker disrupts office functions, managers are told to “consider appropriate corrective or disciplinary action against the threatening or disruptive employees.”

Horner said agencies should grant leave to AIDS-infected employees “in the same manner as they would for other employees with (other) medical conditions.” AIDS-infected employees may continue their life insurance, but cannot increase their coverage after they become seriously ill, the guidelines state.

A spokeswoman for the 700,000-member American Assn. of Government Employees, the largest union representing government workers, said, “We are generally in support of the guidelines.” But she faulted the Reagan Administration for budget cuts that have made it harder for union members working in Veterans Administration hospitals to care for AIDS patients.