Man Living with HIV Fired From Kansas Restaurant, Federal Lawsuit Claims

A male employee of a Kansas restaurant has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that he was terminated from his job after telling a manager that he was living with HIV, according to reporting by the Associated Press and multiple other news outlets.

Armando Gutierrez, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2008, filed the federal lawsuit today. 

The court documents say Gutierrez had been filling in as a server for a year at The Big Biscuit in Overland Park, Kansas, when he asked the manager to review a document he needed in order to prove he didn’t have employer provided insurance to be eligible for state assistance to cover medical bills and the cost of HIV treatment.

According to the complaint, the next day he was informed of a schedule change to working on Sundays in a transfer, which he had previously been unavailable to work, and when he approached the management team about the schedule change, he was allegedly terminated.

The suit also alleges that Gutierrez’s firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  

The lawsuit seeks damages and back pay (minimum wage).

If this is true, shame on this company and it is a good time to remind employers that if someone is living with HIV, you can’t terminate them because of their chronic condition.