U.S. Federal Attorney Sues NYPD Over HIV Discrimination Claims
United States Federal Attorney Preet Bharara supported Raymond Parker who was rejected by NYPD a position as emergency dispatcher three years ago. Bharara sued NYPD for discrimination against Parker.
Parker was infected with HIV virus and he was rejected to work in NYPD when he applied to work in the police department three years ago. In an interview with New York Post, Parker said that NYPD could not disqualify him for his HIV.
“They can’t disqualify me because of my disability,” Parker said. “I know that there are hundreds of thousands of diseases that people work with and there is no reason to exclude me because of my disability.”
He receives support from US attorney general Barara. The attorney general for the Southern District of New York was reported to file a lawsuit against the NYPD on Tuesday Jan. 17 under the Americans with Disabilities Act to support Parker. The lawsuit according to New York Times claimed that Parker was qualified for the job, therefore NYPD did not have a legitimate reason to refuse to hire Parker.
The 60-year old Parker applied for a position as technicians in the biggest police department in the U.S. in 2013. Subsequently, he underwent several testings including background check and medical test. The medical test revealed that he had HIV virus.
NYPD requested further blood test before rejecting him for the position citing "HIV low CD4 count" as the reason of his rejection. Parker filed a discrimination claim to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the EEOC referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice which was handled by Barara.
New York City Police Department is the oldest and the biggest municipal police departmetn in the United States. The department was founded as the law enforcement agency of the five borroughs in New York, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island in 1845. The NYPD has around 50 thousand employees with annual budget $5 million.
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