Atlanta Police Department Sued Over HIV Discrimination

"Richard Roe” wanted to be an Atlanta Police officer. Instead, he is suing the Atlanta Police Department (APD), the City of Atlanta and an occupational medicine group for allegedly disqualifying him because he has HIV.

Roe is a pseudonym used to protect the plaintiff’s privacy in a federal lawsuit filed Sept. 5. The lawsuit charges the defendants with “improper testing and employment discrimination based upon [Roe] having tested positive for the HIV virus” and claims that the city of Atlanta has “a policy and/or custom” of not hiring police officers with HIV.

According to his lawsuit, Roe applied to join the Atlanta Police Department in January 2006. The process went smoothly until August of that year, when he was referred to defendant Caduceus Occupational Medicine for a physical and drug screening. Roe claims he was not told by Caduceus or Dr. Alton Greene, also named as a defendant, that his blood would be tested for HIV.

On Sept. 7, 2006, according to the lawsuit, Greene told Roe that the APD would not hire him as a police officer because he tested positive for HIV. Roe never heard from the police department after that date, the lawsuit claims.

Roe seeks a ruling that the APD cannot discriminate based on HIV status, a job as an Atlanta police officer, lost wages and benefits that he would have received if hired, and damages for “humiliation” and “mental anguish.”

In answers filed with the court, attorneys for the city, the police department, the medical practice and the doctor involved all denied any wrongdoing.

In an answer filed Sept. 25, defendant Caduceus denied the bulk of Roe’s claims including “that it made any decision whatsoever about who would or would not be considered for employment as an Atlanta police officer.” Dr. Alton Greene also denied Roe’s claims in an answer filed the same day.

The City of Atlanta filed its response Oct. 3. It claims that Roe never used internal procedures for claims of discrimination, and argues that the city “had a bona fide reason for the actions taken regarding Plaintiff and did so regardless of his disability.”

Attorneys for the city denied that there was a policy not to hire people with HIV as police officers, but admitted that HIV testing is part of the “routine physical exam.” Courtesy Southern Voice News.