Harassment Due to AIDS Rumor Claimed

A Hawthorne man who says harassment from co-workers who thought he had AIDS forced him to leave his job has filed a $5-million lawsuit against his former employer.

John Herbert, 40, worked for the Hawthorne-based AMREX-ZETRON, a small medical equipment manufacturer, for five years as the customer service manager. He told reporters Thursday that after one fellow employee told other workers that Herbert had acquired immune deficiency syndrome, his co-workers began shunning him.

Herbert said he tested positive for the AIDS virus in 1987 but has not developed the disease. He said he was forced to quit because of the stress caused by the hostile working environment and is currently on disability.

Herbert’s attorney, Mike Marko, said the Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed Tuesday would break new legal ground if courts uphold its claims that being HIV positive is a physical handicap, that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a violation of public policy and that saying someone has AIDS when they are HIV positive is defamatory.

AMREX-ZETRON’s owner, Wayne Zillgitt Sr., called Herbert’s claim that he was the victim of harassment “a bunch of baloney.”