Where you are allowed to lie

HIV/AIDS: What your employer (doesn’t) need to know

Even today, social acceptance does not yet go hand in hand with medical progress: HIV has long been easily treatable.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Around 40 million people worldwide are living with the HI virus. According to the Austrian AIDS Society, the number in this country alone is between 8,000 and 9,000, including the number of unreported cases. And although it is easily treatable, those affected are still affected by stigmatization and discrimination. In view of this: Do employers have to know if you are infected or can they even demand a test? We have asked!

Thanks to medical progress, HIV has become an easily treatable chronic disease. With regular treatment, those affected have an almost normal life expectancy with a good quality of life, according to the Austrian AIDS service organizations: "If the viral load is below the detection limit, HIV can practically no longer be transmitted." And yet stigmatization and discrimination against those affected are still the order of the day in Austria.

What does an HIV infection mean for me as an employee? Am I accountable to my employer in this regard? Or can he even dismiss me because of it? On the occasion of World AIDS Day on December 1, we asked labor law expert Martina Lackner from the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) about the situation and collected the most common legal misconceptions for you.