HIV at work: what you have to tell an employer

This one has a clearer answer than most, and it is not the answer people expect.

You do not have to tell your employer

There is no general duty to tell an employer, a colleague or a client that you have HIV. It is your medical information.

A small number of healthcare roles involving exposure-prone procedures have their own rules, and if that is your job your clinic will tell you where you stand. For everybody else, the answer is that it is nobody's business.

The law is on your side, from day one

Under the Equality Act 2010, HIV counts as a disability from the moment you are diagnosed, whether or not you have ever felt unwell. You do not have to be ill, and you do not have to call yourself disabled for the protection to apply.

That means an employer cannot treat you worse because of it, and has to make reasonable adjustments if you need them. It applies to recruitment too.

Appointments and sick leave

Clinic appointments are medical appointments. You are entitled to attend them, and you do not have to say what they are for.

If you do choose to tell someone at work, telling occupational health or HR is not the same as telling your manager or your team, and you can ask for it to go no further.

If something goes wrong

Discrimination because of HIV is unlawful, and there are organisations that help with exactly this. National AIDS Trust works on HIV and rights, and Terrence Higgins Trust can talk it through.

This page is general information, not legal advice, and a real problem deserves a proper conversation with someone who does this for a living.

Where this comes from

Talkpositive is peer support, not a medical service. Anything about your own treatment belongs with your clinic, and they will not mind you asking.

If you would rather ask someone who has been through it

Talkpositive is a free, private community for people living with HIV. No real name needed, nothing public, nothing in search engines. Small rooms by what you are going through, and quiet one-to-one conversations that open only when both people have said hello.

Have a look at Talkpositive