Joslyn Joseph revealed her HIV status to her employers - and two months later she was fired. Now she has challenged her dismissal with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
Joseph has been living with the virus for the past 11 years, after discovering she was HIV-positive when she was 21.
Callforce Direct, a call centre employment agency, placed her at First National Bank Homeloans in May 2004.
Her nightmare began in December, when she fell ill.
'I told him I had to make a life-threatening decision - I thought death was at my door' Joseph's CD4 count was very low and she decided to disclose her HIV status to her boss at FNB.
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"I went up to my boss and told him I was not feeling good. I told him my blood level had dropped to the lowest in my entire history of HIV and Aids.
"I told him I had to make a life-threatening decision. I thought death was at my door.
"I was preparing for my grave," Joseph said. After revealing her HIV status, her boss was sympathetic and gave her a week off to have more tests done in hospital.
After a week she returned to work as she was feeling better.
'I was sick for only one day, yet I was fired' "I was losing weight every day. It was the first time in 10 years that I thought I was dying. You become very nervous when you think about death. I had to make all sorts of decisions. Now that I have been there, I know what to do," she said.
In February, Joseph got sick again - for one day - but when she returned to work with a doctor's note, she was fired by the agency for "poor attendance" and "poor performance standards in respect of key performance areas".
"I was sick for only one day, yet I was fired. I am upset that they have robbed me of the opportunity of living a normal life. Because I have disclosed my status, they now think I am incapable.
"How convenient. When I was working late before I revealed my HIV status, they did not think I was incapable," Joseph said, wiping away tears.
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