China's first national conference on Hepatitis B (HBV) discrimination opened in Zhengzhou on 3 October, attended by over 50 civil rights activists and people living with HBV. The conference agreed a three-year plan to combat discrimination, press for legal reform, strengthen the regional HBV support network, raise public awareness and improve cooperation with government health agencies.
The three day conference approved a letter to President Hu Jintao thanking him for the Communist Party's and government's attempts to help and care for the more than 120 million people in China living with HBV, and urging him to ensure that the government's anti-discrimination laws and regulations are effectively implemented, especially in the areas of employment and education.
In addition, the conference organizer, Yirenping, a pioneering advocacy and support group that has helped many people living with HBV sue employers on the grounds of discrimination, published a handbook outlining how people living with HBV can protect their lawful rights.
The handbook provides workers with a step-by-step guide to protecting their rights during recruitment and employment, as well as the legal options available to them if they are dismissed or forced to retire on the grounds of their HBV status.
It outlines the legal framework designed to protect people with HVB in China, and points out that potential employees are not legally obliged to take a HBV test during the recruitment process. Those with HBV who are seeking employment are urged to find out as much as they can about the employer's recruitment process and, if they discover that it includes a HBV test, report that company to the local labour bureau. If the labour bureau or any other local government body ignores their complaints, they can sue the government for failing to enforce the law, the handbook says.
The handbook stresses that employees and job applicants should be aware of their rights to privacy, especially provisions that state hospitals should not reveal the results of medical examinations to other parties, including patients' employers, without the permission of the patient. Workers should inform hospitals conducting HBV tests for employers of the risk of being reported to the Ministry of Health for misconduct, and other potential legal consequences.
In cases where successful applicants are rejected on the basis of their HBV status, the handbook suggests they should first attempt to persuade management to stand by their original offer, but if the company refuses, the applicant should ask for compensation. The amount of compensation should be based on; violation of contract (if applicable), loss of time and potential earnings, and psychological damage.
Should negotiations fail, the applicant can sue the employer, and Yirenping suggest that most cases will be settled out of court. The handbook describes in great detail how discrimination victims can gather evidence and present their case. It contains templates of complaint letters, telephone scripts to encourage employers to admit on tape that the reason for refusing employment was their HBV status, and formulae for calculating compensation.
If the case does go to trail, the handbook provides guidelines for plaintiffs on how to protect their privacy and deal with the media. It also gives several case studies of well-known anti-discrimination cases.
To download a copy of the handbook from Yirenping click here.