Chinese scholars have called for improved protection of the
labor rights of hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers as many are unable
to get jobs with local governments and companies.
Li Kungang, associate professor with the Law School of the
Beijing-based Renmin University of China, said he had seen a number
of reports on job discrimination against HBV sufferers in recent
years.
"This liver disease cannot be spread through casual contact.
Barring the carriers from work for no good reason contravenes the
Labor Law. Such practices also infringe HBV carriers' equal rights
to employment," yesterday's China Youth Daily quoted Li as
saying.
HBV is mainly transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids
such as contaminated blood and semen, shared needles and infected
mother to newborn child contact.
China has an estimated 120 million HBV carriers -- roughly 10
percent of the country's total population. Most of them show no
symptoms and don't pose a threat to work colleagues but are unable
to secure employment and suffer social discrimination.
"It's a huge waste of human resources and will exacerbate social
tension if this massive group of people is not provided with proper
jobs," Li said.
Ye Jingyi, a professor from Peking University's Law School, said
that under China's previous system companies had to foot the bill
for all medical expenditure of HBV carriers. They run a greater
risk of developing liver cirrhosis and cancer.
But the old way has been replaced by the medical insurance
system under which companies only need to pay premiums for their
employees. Fear of high medical costs can no longer be used as an
excuse to refuse HBV carriers work, Ye said.
She observed that society shouldn't ignore the plight of
carriers and the government should rapidly enact laws against job
discrimination.
In April 2004, Zhao Xiaohua won a lawsuit against the personnel
affairs bureau of the Wuhu government, in east China's Anhui Province, after being rejected for a job
because he was an HBV carrier.
It was considered a landmark case since it gave carriers a lift
in their fight for equal employment opportunities.
While there are no national laws or regulations forbidding HBV
carriers from joining public service many local governments and
central government departments have issued their own regulations to
bar them.
However, some local administrations, including central Hunan Province and southwestern Guizhou Province, have lifted the ban on
employing HBV carriers.
(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2007)