
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180344
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

AIDS CHANGE IMPERILS DISABLED RIGHTS BILL

Food service workers with AIDS received a setback Thursday as the House approved an amendment that would allow them to be assigned duties to keep them away from handling food.

By a 199-187 vote, the House agreed to an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act allowing employers to reassign workers with "contagious diseases" so they will not be allowed to handle food.

Both sides agreed that "contagious disease" was a thinly disguised reference to AIDS.

The amendment threatens the existence of the bill, which easily cleared the Senate last September on a 76-8 vote. That bill was the product of delicate negotiations with the White House.

by CNB