This is an opinion piece begin put forth to illustrate absurdity and NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
I have seen this and similar discussion floating around the web a lot >>>>>>
While I do not believe the law is quite so cut and dried, let’s assume this is true and see where it takes us.
There are a lot of good business owners out there that might have concerns about STDs. Since they can now ask employees about their health status it would follow that these businesses should be able to require that employees disclose whether or not they have an STD. This seems like a natural follow up?
After all, STDs are transmissible and could impact things like the cost of providing insurance. It is also certainly not unheard of that employees end up “fraternizing” outside of work which would increase the risk of transmission. And while admittedly highly unlikely, it is theoretically possible that a disease such as Herpes could be transmitted via a toilet seat Genital herpes: Can you get it from a toilet seat? – Mayo Clinic.
All of this means that, per the prevailing logic, business owners should now begin asking all employees about their STD status. We definitely need to keep the other employees safe by ostracizing and avoiding the employees that have STDs.
Further, if you report that you do have an STD we should probably develop special diapers that you have to put on over your clothing to further limit the risk to others as well as creating separate but equal bathroom facilities.
Since the prevailing thought is that it is everyone’s responsibility but their own to stay safe, we should also recognize that we need to help weak individuals avoid temptation by ensuring they are kept separate from those with STDs.
There is clearly virtue in sharing your STD status with the world and also allowing yourself to be isolated if you happen to have an STD so we should all encourage this.
I can think of a number of other things that we can now ask about based on this new approach to privacy. Your circumcision status should definitely be in the realm of things to ask about, capacity to become pregnant, whether you have issues with alcohol or drugs, etc. Even if it is illegal to discriminate under the ADA, based on the idea that private health info is not private, we should be able to ask these questions.
Call me silly but I think I will keep my info private and am simply going to refuse to answer any questions about me.