SAN FRANCISCO — A firefighter has filed a claim alleging that colleagues and managers harassed and discriminated against him after learning he tested positive for HIV.
CBS San Francisco reported that 40-year-old Stephen Kloster filed a claim last Tuesday. If the city denies the claim, he can file a lawsuit.
Kloster says he doesn’t know how he contracted HIV. He claims he may have contracted it after an exposure while working on ambulance duty in 2003 when he got blood on him while treating a patient.
He started feeling sick after five years on the department and lost 100 pounds. Tests revealed he was HIV-positive, but by 2007, a year after his diagnosis, his T-cell count improved and he was able to return to duty.
After returning, word had spread about his condition and his colleagues wouldn’t let him cook and made jokes that he was gay and that his girlfriend was a man, according to the report.
He is no longer on duty and has not been reassigned since taking a vacation last year.
A fire department spokeswoman confirmed he was still an active employee and that the department hasn’t discriminated against him, according to the report.
The city attorney’s office and fire department declined comment.