Return-path: Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 21:12-EST From: Scott.Safier@ISL1.RI.CMU.EDU Reply-To: Scott Safier To: bb+assocs.out@ANDREW.CMU.EDU Subject: 12/30/93 Post Gazette from 12/30/93 Post Gazette Plaintiff Says CMU Ousted Him Over HIV A Forest Hills man charged in a lawsuit filed yesterday that he was forced to resign from Carnegie Mellon University last November after University officials learned he had tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. Marc C. Wagner of Greensburg Pike was a researcher at the Center of Light Microscope Imaging and Biotechnology Center in Mellon Institute when he submitted his resignation Nov. 25, according to the complaint filed in US District Court. Wagner, who is now unemployed, claims in the complaint that his supervisor forced him to resign after co-workers found out he was HIV positive and complained. It claims that Carnegie Mellon violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitations Act by discriminating against Wagner because of his medical condition. Carnegie Mellon spokesman Don Hale said the University would have no comment on the lawsuit. One of the complaints about Wagner from his co-workers was that he exposed several of them to his infected blood by working in a laboratory, the lawsuit says. But Wagner claims in the complaint that Carnegie Mellon "routinely exposed all its employees in this laboratory equally to untested and dangerous blood products from unknown donors without taking universal precautions." Wagner also claims in the complaint that he was prohibited from using the laboratory to conduct personal research, while other employees were allowed to do such research. Wagner is seeking court orders that will prohibit Carnegie Mellon from further discrimination and force the university to establish equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities. He is also seeking reinstatement to his job and unspecified amounts of back pay, compensatory damages, and legal fees.