Nokia sued over Hepatitis B discrimination
14 March 2007
A Chinese job applicant says Nokia denied him a job because he is a Hepatitis B carrier, the Financial Times reported. The unusual lawsuit underlines a recent push by Hepatitis B carriers to use legal channels to fight discrimination. Chinese companies regularly refuse employment to the estimated 120 million Chinese affected by the virus, even though it is not easily transmitted from person to person. The man suing Nokia, identified only as Li, said he was surprised when the Finnish company refused him a job in Dongguan after a medical examination. "I thought that as a big company, Nokia would have a better understanding of this issue," he said. "But they still said that because I was a (Hepatitis B) carrier, they had to reject me."