CLARKSVILLE, Ind. — The U.S. Department of Justice reports it reached a settlement with a southern Indiana town for revoking a job offer to a qualified police officer based on him being diagnosed with HIV.
NOTE: The above video is from a previous report on the DOJ lawsuit against Clarksville.
The agreement, which stills needs to be approved by a judge, calls for Clarksville to revise its policies and procedures regarding employment-related medical examinations and to train relevant personnel on the requirements of Title I of the ADA. The town will also pay $150,000 in damages to the former police officer and provide him with an affidavit that makes clear to future employers that his termination by the town was through no fault of his own.
“No individual should be subject to employment discrimination based on their HIV status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The complainant’s dream job was taken away because of unfounded assumptions that his HIV diagnosis would impact his ability to safely do the job."
In October 2015, the Clarksville Police Department gave a conditional offer of employment as a police officer to a man who had been working as a volunteer reserve officer in the town for over a year.
However, the offer was contingent upon the man passing a state-mandated medical examination. During his examination, the man told the medical examiner he had HIV and was taking all the medicines his doctor had prescribed.
At the end of the appointment, the examiner noted that the man was taking the proper medications, had "no long term evidence of active disease" from his HIV and no other notable health conditions.
Despite this, the DOJ's lawsuit alleges the examiner told the Clarksville police chief that in his opinion, the man didn't meet the statewide medical standards because his HIV was a “communicable disease” that posed a “significant risk of substantial harm to the health and safety” of his colleagues and the public.
The examiner cited no scientific or medical evidence to support his opinion, which goes against a body of evidence showing people with HIV can lead normal lives with proper care and treatment.
A month later the man received a letter stating his offer was rescinded because he didn't pass his medical examination. He was also fired from his position as a reserve officer.
The man spent the next 15 months appealing his disqualification and trying to be rehired as a Clarksville officer. Eight months into his appeals, the police department acknowledged he was in fact qualified and added him back onto its police officer hiring list. However, the man was never rehired.
Eventually, the man accepted a position to work as an officer with another department.
The lawsuit says Clarksville's actions delayed the start of the man's career as a police officer which caused him "significant emotional distress, including humiliation, depression, and anxiety," and also harmed him financially.
In addition to this, the lawsuit said the gap in his resume is causing him continuing harm because it is, and will be for the entirety of his career, difficult to explain.
After seven years of fighting, the DOJ picked up his case in April 2022.