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Pressure from employers to allow voluntary HIV testing
Business Day
2000-04-20

Employers press government to allow for voluntary HIV testing in the workplace.

The government is facing rising pressure from employers to amend the Employment Equity Act to allow for voluntary HIV testing of workers. Employers say the current law does not permit them to carry out anonymous testing to determine the prevalence of the disease among their workforces or the effectiveness of in-house HIV/AIDS campaigns. The act prohibits discriminatory testing and prevents employers from conducting HIV tests unless the Labour Court says it is justified. This, employers say, is counterproductive to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in the workplace. Legal opinions differ on the intent of the drafters. Some legal experts argue that testing - even with employees' consent - is prohibited. But there is another argument that anonymous testing is not covered in the act and therefore employers could do so with employees' consent. The matter could become a dispute between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Amcoal's Greenside Colliery. NUM general secretary Gwede Mantashe has expressed concern about plans to conduct saliva testing of miners. He said the results could be used against workers for repatriation or retrenchment purposes. Amcoal said a third party on its other mines had conducted anonymous testing and the union's branch committee had approved this at Greenside. (Source: Business Day, 17/4/00)

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