KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Five out of 15 people who filed a workplace complaint lost their jobs last year after their employers found out they had HIV, according to a finding by the Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) released today.
MAC's HIV and Human Rights Mitigation Report 2015 also showed that termination of HIV-positive workers mostly happened in the tourism and entertainment sector such as hotels, golf resorts and an entertainment venue.
One of the cases also occurred in a government-linked public transport company.
Eight of the 15 complaints involved some form of workplace discrimination, including demotion at the workplace due to their HIV-positive status and also a forced resignation.
However, there were also six complaints of discriminatory service in the public health sector.
"We urge businesses and corporations to take the appropriate measures to ensure that the rights of all their employees are protected, one of which is to adopt the Code of Practice on Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS provided by the Department of Occupational Safety and Hazard," said MAC president Bakhtiar Talha.
The report was compiled by MAC's policy manager Fifa Rahman.
There were 3,330 new HIV infections reported last year, according to statistics from the Health Ministry.
