SC: Termination of employment due to HIV is illegal

EMPLOYMENT termination due to HIV diagnosis is illegal as declared by the Supreme Court of the Philippines. 

Upholding the state’s pledge to protect Filipino workers both domestically and overseas, the Court said that firing an employee solely for testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is illegal.  

Under Section 49(a) of Republic Act No. (RA) 11166, or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, it is unlawful for employees to be terminated from work on the sole basis of their HIV status.

With the decision was ruled by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the Supreme Court’s Third Division found AAA’s termination as an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was invalid due to discrimination.  

Under a two-year contract through the recruitment agency Bison Management Corporation (Bison), AAA was deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a cleaning laborer. 

In January 2019, after working for 15 months, AAA underwent medical exam to which they are found to be positive with HIV. Being HIV positive later caused AAA to lose his employment with the compliance of Saudi Arabian law–considering an HIV-positive individual as unfit to work.

AAA was later sent back to the Philippines in February 2019 and later filed a complaint for illegal dismissal. The complaint was later dismissed by the Labor Arbiter. 

Having to reverse the Labor Arbiter, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) determined that Saraja AL Jazirah Contracting Est along with its president, Bison, are liable for illegal dismissal.  

After the Court of Appeals upheld the NLRC, Bison was prompt to go to the Supreme Court. 

The Court later concluded that AAA was illegally dismissed making them entitled on salaries for the unexpired portion of their contract and moral and exemplary damages, among others.

There was no legal basis to terminate AAA as it is illegal in the Philippines to utilize an individual’s HIV status as a reason for termination.

In this instance, RA 11166 supersedes Saudi Arabian law since it is against Philippine law, even if it is demonstrated that Saudi Arabian law forbids workers who test positive for HIV.