Questions and Answers: The Americans with Disabilities Act and Person with HIV/AIDS, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (June 2012)

This series of questions and answers from the U.S. Department of Justice re-confirms that people with HIV or AIDS are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA protects persons who are discriminated against on the basis of their HIV status (even if they do not actually have HIV but the discriminator believes that they do) or because of their association or relationship with an individual who has HIV.

In addition to answering basic questions about what employers and employment practices are covered by the ADA, the Q&A discusses reasonable accommodations that both private and government employers are required to provide under the Act. Other issues addressed include the limited, individualized ways in which employers can assess whether a person with HIV poses a "direct threat" to the health and safety of himself or others; requirements for public accommodations to provide services under the ADA; requirements for healthcare providers to treat persons with HIV under the ADA; and guidance about how a person may go about filing an ADA discrimination complaint with the Department of Justice.

The document also provides numerous hypothetical circumstances involving persons with HIV in which the ADA might be invoked , and offers guidance on the type of actions that would constitute discrimination and a violation of the ADA.