The case involves an HIV-positive individual who was dismissed from his job in Greece after colleagues found out that he had the disease and subsequently refused to work with him.
Discrimination
The individual – known as IB – challenged the dismissal, but the Greek Court of Cassation upheld the decision after ruling his sacking was based on ensuring the peaceful running of the business, rather than hostility towards IB’s HIV status.
George Letsas and Virginia Mantouvalou, co-directors of the UCL Institute for Human Rights, were heavily involved in bringing the case to European court. In a statement this week, they said: ‘Our claim is that the applicant suffered discrimination on the basis of his HIV-status. This remains the case even though his employer did not have discriminatory motives, and only cared about business efficiency. There is widespread discrimination and social exclusion in Europe towards persons with HIV/AIDS. States have positive obligations to take action.’
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