Mexico: Mexican House of Representatives Approve Amendments to Eradicate Employment Discrimination for Those Who Have AIDS and/or HIV

Recently, the Mexican House of Representatives approved several amendments to Mexican laws in order to eradicate any type of discrimination, specially employment discrimination, for those employees who have AIDS and/or HIV. Currently, the amendment is pending approval of the Mexican Senate to be sent to the Mexican Executive power for its publication to become law.

The approved amendment will modify several articles and provisions from the Federal Law, which are to prevent and eliminate discrimination, general education law, general health law and federal labour law.

The amendment to the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination foresees new inclusion measures, which indicate that these may include the “development of policies against homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, discrimination based on appearance and/or adult centrism, as well as discrimination based on health conditions.”

For the general education law, there is an added reason for the infraction of any teaching or management staff in schools that expels, segregates, and/or refuses to provide educational services to anyone because of their health condition.

As for the employment discrimination, the Federal Labour Law will be amended to prohibit employers or their representatives to specifically condition the entrance, permanence, and promotion within the employment for the provision of medical studies for the detection of AIDS/HIV, as well as to dismiss any worker or coerce the employee directly or indirectly to resign for having this health condition.