AIDS AND THE WORK ENVIRONMENT CASE

This analysis discusses the legal and ethical issues arising out of the first case of AIDS contracted by an employee of New England Telephone Company (NET) Paul Cronan (Cronan) in the mid-1980s. As of the time NET settled with Cronan and reinstated him in 1986, the company was facing a serious work stoppage at its Needham garage by Cronan's co-employees who are fearful of returning to work and have made threats against him. The company has avoided substantial liability to Cronan through the settlement, but it should take his case as a warning that its policies are dangerously inadequate to deal with other AIDS cases which are likely to arise in the future. Only a comprehensive approach to the problem of AIDS in the workplace will head off serious employee relations problems.

The legal issues facing NET fall into three categories: (i) its liability to Cronan and other employees who suffer from AIDS under state and federal law because of its policies and practices; (ii) its obligations to Cronan's co-workers with respect to their health and safety concerns and their walkout from work; and (iii) its potential liability to Cronan and other employees who suffer from AIDS because of actions taken by the co-workers against Cronan and such other employees. In addition, the co-workers themselves may incur certain legal liabilities to Cronan and such other employees through their actio

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ld not be considered reasonable. Furthermore . . . it is questionable whether concerted activity is protected when its purpose is to force an employer to unlawfully discriminate against an employee with AIDS (Heacock and Orvin, supra, 699, 701. Kelly takes a similar view. He says that under state and federal Occupational Safety and Health Regulations an employee "may refuse to work with an HIV-infected employee only if his fear is objectively reasonable." (Joseph Kelly, HIV-AIDS at the Workplace, LAB. L.J. 762 (Dec. 1992). NET Liability for Actions of Co-Workers. NET has a positive duty to provide protection for the disabled employee threatened by the co-workers and may become liable on a respondeat superior theory for actions of the co-worker unless it takes actions, once it becomes aware, as it has, of their threats, to disassociate management from them. Its policy statement should clearly state that it will not countenance efforts to intimidate disabled employees. Normally, employers are not liable for intentional torts committed by subordinates, provided that its supervisors do not become involved. Another possible cause of action is for sexual harassment under state and federal law (under Title VII and sec. e. of th
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Approximate Word count = 3836
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)