A West Coast teacher's HIV-positive status was revealed to parents in a letter shortly before she was fired.
Gayle Jonker was a teacher at Learning Adventure day care centre in Cobden up until four weeks ago when she was fired after she revealed her status, Stuff reports.
She was due to appear in a Stuff story which focused on breaking down the stigmas around HIV, and decided to let her manager know beforehand.
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Her manager reportedly asked why she did not disclose her illness before, and Ms Jonker said there is no legal requirement to do so.
A letter was then distributed to all parents stipulating that she was not infectious. Regardless, some parents asked for her medical records and details about her sex life, leaving Ms Jonker mortified, Stuff reports.
"As an organisation we do not discriminate against staff with disabilities, in fact we encourage diversity, however it is our responsibility to advise you how this is going to be managed. Our staff will be given support," the letter read.
After the letter went out she told Stuff that she was called in by her manager for a performance meeting where an incident was brought up that happened when she first started working there, nearly three months earlier.
Then just before her 90-day trial ended she was fired, her boss citing a variety of reasons including being rude and taking long lunch breaks.
The centre said it had nothing to do with her HIV status illness.
Newshub.
