A Manhattan Federal Court has just awarded Antonio Muñoz — a 50-year-old HIV-positive man — more than $500,000 in a wrongful termination suit against the Manhattan Club, a boutique hotel and timeshare in midtown Manhattan.
According to New York Daily News, Muñoz began working as as assistant office manager at the hotel on October 2007 and received two raises and an “Exemplary Manager Award” in 2008.
However, shortly after being diagnosed with HIV during the winter of 2008, his doctor prescribed him Sustiva, a drowsiness-causing medication that would have made it difficult for Muñoz to continue working his night shift. He requested a day shift, but his manager verbally denied his request and suggested that he quit.
During April 2010, his company moved him to a day shift for two weeks and then returned him to a night shift.
Soon after Muñoz filed a “complaint of disability discrimination” with the hotel's human resources department, Muñoz said he received a scathing evaluation “full of falsehoods,” and was later fired in February 2011 “after an anonymous — and suspicious — complaint was leveled against him.”
After losing his job, Muñoz unsuccessfully attempted to find a job, fell into a depression and then lost his apartment due to foreclosure. He currently works as a social worker for the mentally-challenged.
