£35,000 for Sacked HIV+ Teacher

posted: 10/05/2010

A teacher living with HIV won £35,000 compensation for being unfairly forced out of her job at an independent school. The school, in eastern England, sacked the teacher after claiming that she had failed to satisfactorily complete her six-month probationary period. But it had suspended her from her job after just three months, because she has HIV.

'Danger to pupils' nonsense

The school claimed that the teacher's condition was a "danger to pupils and colleagues", according to details released by teaching union the NUT, which represented her. The school also told an employment agency she has HIV, which breachs her right to privacy and confidentiality. There's no evidence from anywhere of any HIV transmission in schools. Sex with teachers is not part of any school's curriculum so how could the pupils and her colleagues even be in 'danger'?  

Neither the school nor the teacher can be named because of a confidentiality agreement the school and teacher signed. As well as £35,000 compensation, the teacher received a letter of apology and a reference.

Terrence Higgins Trust commented that more still needs to be done to challenge the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV.

"Sadly, prejudice and ignorance related to HIV are still a big problem for many people living with the condition, particularly in relation to the workplace," she said. "Leading ordinary lives can be made really difficult if there is stigma in the workplace, in the health system, or in their private lives. The virus can't be passed on by day-to-day contact, so there's no reason why people living with HIV shouldn't be able to undertake normal duties at work."

Reliable HIV in Schools information

HIV in Schools pack from NAT (National AIDS Trust)  

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Zimbabwe - Removals Halted

posted: 17/12/2008

The government has effectively decided that most Zimbabweans in the UK can now remain, at least until the situation in Zimbabwe radically improves.

It has said it will not appeal the key decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal that the situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated so far that only people who can prove they are supporters of the governing Zanu-PF should be returned. 

On 19th November 2008 the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal published a determination on a significant country guidance case for Zimbabwe.

The Tribunal found that anyone who is unable to demonstrate support for or loyalty Zanu-PF or the regime is at risk if returned to Zimbabwe. However, each case will have to be decided one by one, depending on the person's own relationship to Zanu-PF - friend or foe?

Fresh Claims

If a failed asylum seeker can show that they will not be able to demonstrate loyalty to the regime, then that could be enough to make a fresh claim. A significant number of Zimbabweans who have been refused asylum should now benefit from this decision, particularly those who have been in the UK for some time.

The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal's decision in RN  was long awaited by thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the U.K. The decision at last offers real hope to the 7,500, a significant number of whom are living with HIV, whose applications for asylum in the UK had been refused by the Government and the Tribunal on the basis that there was nothing stopping them from returning to Zimbabwe.

Humanitarian claims too, if no basic necessities

The Tribunal’s momentous decision was for a person known as RN, a teacher from Zimbabwe who came to the UK nearly three years ago to escape violence from supporters of Mugabe’s regime. In allowing RN’s appeal on refugee and human rights grounds, the Tribunal concluded that all those Zimbabweans in the UK who cannot demonstrate loyalty to the Zanu-PF regime should be granted permission to stay and work in the UK until it is safe for them to return to Zimbabwe. The Tribunal also recognised that those who may be deprived of all the basic necessities of life if returned to Zimbabwe should be granted permission to stay here on humanitarian grounds.

The Tribunal made a similar decision in 2005 but the Government appealed and the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal. Several further test cases went to the Court of Appeal and the matter remained unresolved until the Government’s decision this week not to challenge RN. The solicitor for RN, from the Immigration Advisory Service, Julian Bild, commented:

“The Government’s decision this week not to challenge the judgement in RN’s appeal is a welcome recognition of the real dangers that face Zimbabweans if removed from the UK. I am sure that most of the Zimbabweans in the UK would choose to go home if they could do so safely and with dignity but with the current appalling levels of violence and destitution to which Zimbabwe has descended the result of the test case was clearly the correct one. The Government must act quickly to implement the decision.

“Those Zimbabweans who have previously failed in their applications for asylum in the UK should quickly get legal advice from accredited legal representatives on their position following the test case decision”.

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Briefing from Refugee Council

The Tribunal's decision reference for the case is RN (Returnees) Zimbabwe CG [2008] UKAIT 00083 [November 2008]