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.