A Kenyan employer will part with Ksh1.5 million after he lied about the HIV status of one of his employees thanks to a ruling by the Court of Appeal.
In 2015, the woman whose identity was concealed for safety reasons, sued her employer after he used her likeness to imply that she was a HIV positive sex worker on the International HIV/AIDS Alliance website.
She further argued that her likeness was accompanied by text that suggested she was a sex worker and that she carried the virus but she did not consent to any of that.
After assessing all the evidence, Justice Joseph Sergon awarded the woman the money ruling that she had convinced the court that her image was used inappropriately without her consent.
“Having re-evaluated the evidence in its totality and upon considering the rival submissions, I am convinced that the respondent’s photograph was inappropriately used contrary to the law and not in line with the respondent’s consent,” ruled the Judge.
In the court documents, the woman had also argued that the photo in question was not taken at the clinic where she worked between December 2009 and April 2011 contrary to claims from her employer.
She, therefore, filed a suit before the HIV/AIDS Tribunal seeking damages for emotional and psychological distress.
The clinic specializes exclusively on treating sex workers of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In its defence, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance claimed that they had acquired written evidence from the woman to use her likeness for educational, promotional and fundraising.
They allegedly failed to produce the evidence.
