Other HIV Laws | Massachusetts

People with disabilities, such as HIV/AIDS, may experience health-related problems that make it difficult to meet some job requirements or duties.  For example, a person may be exhausted or fatigued and find it difficult to work a full-time schedule.

In certain circumstances, the employer has an obligation to modify or adjust job requirements or workplace policies in order to enable a person with a disability, such as HIV or AIDS, to perform the job duties.  This is known as a “reasonable accommodation.”

合理便利的例子包括：

• 修改或改变工作任务或职责；
• 制定兼职或修改的工作时间表；
• 允许在正常工作时间内请假去看医生；
• 将员工重新分配到空缺职位；或
• 对工作现场的物理布局进行修改或购置电话放大器等设备，以允许听力障碍人士完成工作。

It is, with rare exception, the employee’s responsibility to initiate the request for an accommodation.  In addition, an employer may request that an employee provide some information about the nature of the disability.  Employees with concerns about disclosing HIV/AIDS status to a supervisor should contact GLAD Answers at www.GLADAnswers.org in order to strategize about ways to respond to such requests.

There is no fixed set of accommodations that an employee may request.  The nature of a requested accommodation will depend on the particular needs of an individual employee’s circumstances.

An employer is not obligated to grant each and every request for an accommodation.  An employer does not have to grant a reasonable accommodation that will create an “undue burden” (i.e. significant difficulty or expense for the employer’s operation).  In addition, the employer does not have to provide a reasonable accommodation if the employee cannot perform the job function even with the reasonable accommodation.

In determining whether a requested accommodation creates an undue burden or hardship for an employer, courts examine a number of factors, including:

• 雇主的规模、预算和财务限制；
• 实施所要求的住宿的费用；以及
• 该调整如何影响或扰乱雇主的业务。

再次强调，我们会根据具体情况进行审查。

Yes.  In 2006, Massachusetts passed a law allowing for pharmacies to sell syringes over the counter to anyone who is 18 years of age or older and decriminalizing possession of needles (M. G. L. c. 94c §§27-27A).

Yes.  Massachusetts law permits the Department of Public Health to establish needle exchange programs, but unfortunately requires “local approval” for the siting of a program (M. G. L. c.111 §215). To date, only Boston, Cambridge, Northampton, and Provincetown have needle exchange programs.

Yes, on August 10, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law An Act Relative to HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy Syndrome Treatment. This first-of-its-kind legislation requires public and private insurers to cover treatment of a debilitating side effect of early HIV medications. This historic victory means that some of the longest-term survivors of the HIV epidemic will finally have access to the critical health care they need and deserve.

有关详细信息，请参阅：For more information, see: Governor Baker Signs Historic Law Requiring Treatment for HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy – GLAD.

As a general matter, no. However, in a GLAD case, Doe v Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, Mutual of Omaha agreed to revise its underwriting guidelines to no longer decline long-term care insurance applicants solely on the basis that an applicant takes PrEP for HIV prevention.

有关详细信息，请参阅：For more information, see: Doe v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company – GLAD.

If you are unable to work and are on SSDI or private disability insurance, it is important to work closely with your medical providers to make sure that the medical documentation supports your continuing need for disability insurance.