The State - News from Nov. 5, 1985

Complaints by four nurses who said they were improperly punished for wearing protective gear around AIDS patients at San Francisco General Hospital were rejected by the U.S. Labor Department. The decision upheld a ruling by the state labor commissioner in the cases of nurses Norma Watson, Julie Bernales, Connie Suelen and Rosa Banaag. After reviewing testimony at a two-day hearing, the commissioner decided that the transfer of the four to other duties was unrelated to their objection to a hospital policy against wearing protective garments around patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The city-run hospital follows federal guidelines stating that gloves and masks are not needed unless health workers come in direct contact with blood or secretions from a patient with AIDS.