Senate Backs Ban on AIDS Victims in Food-Handling Jobs

The Senate voted today to allow AIDS victims to be barred from jobs that require them to handle food.

“If Ryan White (the teen-ager who died of AIDS earlier this year) was still alive and he wanted to go to work for Burger King, this amendment would say no,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The Senate ordered its negotiators on the Americans with Disabilities Act to agree to a House-passed amendment that would permit employers to move AIDS sufferers from direct contact with food to other duties without loss of pay.

Although the provision was primarily intended for restaurants, it could also cover supermarkets and food preparation on airliners and luxury cruises.

The Senate approved the instructions, proposed by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) by voice vote after refusing 53 to 40 to kill the order to the negotiators.

Senate instructions to its negotiators are rare and, although no records have been kept, Senate historians could recall no time when negotiators were told to adopt a House provision.

The instructions are not binding. But they put heavy pressure on the Senate negotiators to agree to the House provision.

The Senate and House versions of the Americans with Disabilities Act are remarkably similar in other respects, and the negotiators are expected to reach agreement quickly. President Bush has indicated that he is eager to sign the final product.

The House-passed amendment, aimed directly at AIDS victims and carriers of the HIV virus, would also allow the transfer of individuals with communicable and infectious diseases that people “perceive” can be transmitted through the handling of food.