Man sues airline over hepatitis B job refusal

A man filed a suit against an airline over job discrimination allegedly because he is a hepatitis B carrier, according to Shunyi district court Wednesday.

Fang Min (pseudonym), 26, from Heilongjiang Province, applied to be pilot at Capital Airlines, but was turned down after the physical examination.

Fang applied for the pilot position in October, 2011. After passing the interview and test, he attended a physical examination in Beijing in November.

"At the end of November, Fang found that the applicants' final result was circulated on a QQ group which was set up by the applicants. He had been listed as failing to pass because he is a hepatitis B carrier," said Huang Yizhi, Fang's lawyer.

Fang called the airline's HR department and recorded the conversation, said Huang.

"In the recording, they admitted that Fang was rejected because he is a hepatitis B carrier. I have presented the recording to the court," said Huang.

The airline's lawyer, surnamed He, denied Fang's allegations, said Huang.

"The airline said they rejected him because he didn't pass his pre-employment test and his performance at the English language interview was average," said Huang.

The airline's lawyer declined to be interviewed Wednesday.

In 2010, the former Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a law that except certain types of work, companies should not ask applicants to test for hepatitis B. Airline pilots were not initially included, but in 2011, the MOH added pilots to the list.

An anonymous official with Civil Aviation Administration of China said although airlines can conduct examinations, they cannot turn down applicants if they are a hepatitis B carrier.

"But we're a government department. Airlines are corporations, and we can't interfere with their recruitment. People who think they were rejected because of this disease should go to court," said the official.

Fang, who is now a PE teacher, has asked for an open apology and 50,553 yuan ($8,139) in compensation.