People living with HIV can face many barriers in employment and the consequences of HIV related discrimination in employment can be far-reaching. Discrimination at work can have a negative impact on a person's health and well-being and loss of employment may lead to loss of accommodation, financial difficulties and poverty.

Information and advice for employers, small businesses and people living with HIV

Feedback from people living with HIV indicates that discrimination often occurs during recruitment, in small businesses and in the general course of employment.

We have developed resources to provide clear, practical advice to help small business owners and employers generally ensure that they are providing a fair and equitable working environment for employees who may be living with HIV (or any other unseen condition) and that they are not breaking the law.

The new Equality Act, which came into effect in October 2010, introduces new protections for people living with HIV in the recruitment process.  The Act prohibits the use of pre-employment health questionnaires before the offer of a job has been made. The Equality Act also provides additional protections against discrimination and harassment for people living with HIV who are already in employment.

You can see what we're saying to employers and small businesses here and find out what advice we're providing to people living with HIV here.

Employment restrictions for people living with HIV

People living with HIV are able to do most jobs.  There are only three sorts of jobs which can be a problem. 

People living with HIV are not able to undertake some healthcare jobs such as surgery or dentistry. This is because there is a ban on people with HIV performing certain medical procedures, due to concerns about HIV transmission if there is an accident. (Read our information for people living with HIV in our fact sheet:  Employment restrictions for healthcare workers with HIV).  These restrictions were recently reviewed by an expert working group (including NAT), which recommended a lift of the current ban (provided people are on ART and consistently have a very low or undetectable viral load). There is now a consultation in England, Scotland and Wales on whether this recommendation should be implemented. NAT argued strongly for the ban to be removed and is now encouraging people to respond to the consultation supporting this recommendation

People with HIV are currently unable to join the armed forces.  However, the International Labour Organisation has recently recommended that people with HIV should not be excluded from the armed forces because of their HIV status.  We have joined up with the TUC to ask the Government what they are going to do about this recommendation. 

It can also be difficult for people living with HIV to become commercial pilots. You can read more about this on the Civil Aviation Authority website.