Chinese teacher with HIV wins compensation in landmark labour law case
A HIV-positive school teacher in southwestern China whose job contract was not renewed won a court battle yesterday as a judge ruled the local government must pay him compensation.
The victory, described by mainland media as the first of its kind, came more than a year after the 33-year-old – identified by the pseudonym of Li Cheng and from the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou province – filed a civil lawsuit against local education and human resources authorities, the Beijing Times reported.
The judge at the county court ruled the education bureau of Liping county should pay Li 9,800 yuan (HK$11,700).
It said the bureau had violated labour law when it abruptly ended the contract with Li, who had served for three years at a local middle school. It ruled that the county’s human resources department was also responsible.
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But it rejected Li’s demand to be compensated for the mental anguish he had suffered.
Li, who began work at the middle school in 2010, found his contract was not renewed in late 2013 after a health check in which he tested HIV positive.
He argued that the school had an agreement under which teachers who had served three years would have their contracts renewed automatically.
In the summer of 2014, Li sought help from a local labour arbitration authority, seeking compensation of 22,400 yuan for the loss of employment and an extra 50,000 yuan in mental damages, but was rejected.
Li then sued the local government on the grounds of employment discrimination. His complaint was declined by the county court in October 2014. After an appeal, the court agreed to hear his case in January last year.
Li was disappointed by yesterday’s ruling as he had still lost his job, but would not appeal, his lawyer Jiang Xiaolong said.
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“We wanted to help him keep the job, but failed, and he was exhausted,” Jiang told the Post. “The ruling was made only based on the labour law, while HIV/Aids and employment discrimination were not mentioned.”
The mainland has no specific laws against employment discrimination, and its regulations on HIV/Aids prevention and control – its only regulation regarding the conditions – have no penalties for discrimination.
Xiao Gang, head of NGO Tongzhi Gongyi, said the case was a small step forward, but there was still a long way to go.
