A former Memphis police officer of the yr has filed a discrimination lawsuit towards the Nashville Police Department, claiming it violated federal legislation by rescinding a job provide after studying he has HIV.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court docket in Nashville, stated the officer introduced a letter from his well being care supplier exhibiting that his HIV standing mustn’t disqualify him from employment. The officer, recognized solely by the pseudonym John Doe, says within the letter that he has efficiently suppressed the virus with remedy and that his viral load is undetectable.
“Undetectable means un-transmittable,” the letter states. It provides that, “He remains in great health and this virus will not and has not ever effected his job performance or duties.”
Nashville’s authorized division has not but been served with the lawsuit and declined to touch upon the case, affiliate director Allison Bussell stated in an e mail Tuesday.
The division beforehand defended the choice to rescind Doe’s provide of employment ready assertion to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2021. It explains that the town’s constitution requires all police officer candidates to fulfill the bodily necessities for admission to the U.S. Army or Navy. Those rules exclude individuals with HIV from enlisting and are at present the topic of a separate lawsuit by Lambda Legal.
According to Doe’s lawsuit, which was additionally introduced by Lambda Legal, he started working as a Memphis police officer in 2017. In 2019, when his spouse acquired a job in Nashville, he sought employment with the Metro Nashville Police Department. He was supplied a job in February 2020 contingent upon a profitable medical examination. When a blood take a look at turned up his HIV standing, the division rescinded the job provide. He appealed and misplaced.
Doe then filed a grievance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He acquired a discover of proper to sue this previous April. In the meantime, Nashville voted to amend its constitution to take away the requirement {that a} police recruit adjust to the U.S. army requirements, though Lambda Legal legal professional Jose Abrigo stated in an interview Tuesday that the change has not but been carried out.
Doe at present works as an officer with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, in keeping with the lawsuit. He is looking for a court docket order to require Nashville police to rent him on the similar wage and place he would have occupied if his employment provide had not been rescinded, together with misplaced wages and different advantages. He is also looking for a harm award and authorized charges. And he desires a court docket order stopping Nashville police from refusing to make use of officers as a result of they’re HIV-positive.
