NEWSPAPER SUED OVER WITHDRAWN JOB OFFER

A man who claims the Lexington Herald-Leader withdrew a job offer
after it discovered he had the virus that causes AIDS has sued the
newspaper.

In the discrimination suit, Dwayne Coates, 37, alleges that the
Herald-Leader systematically excludes disabled people from its ranks.

Coates has previously taken his complaint to the Lexington Human
Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to
no avail.

``Mr. Coates' claims have been rejected by both the Human Rights
Commission and the EEOC,'' Herald-Leader Publisher Tim Kelly said
yesterday. ``We intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this case.''

The suit says that on March 6 Coates was offered a job putting
inserts in the paper, contingent upon his passing a drug test. He
said he warned the paper that he would have a false positive because
of a drug he was taking.

The test indeed did come up positive, and the lab reported back to
the newspaper that the positive was due to Coates taking Marinol, a
drug derived from marijuana that is prescribed to stimulate AIDS
patients' appetites, said his attorney, James Morris.

By knowing he was taking Marinol, the paper could easily deduce that
Coates carried HIV; the drug is used primarily for such patients and,
less often, for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, Morris said.
The Herald-Leader illegally withdrew its offer, the suit says,
because the test positive was excused under the newspaper's policy.

Coates is seeking actual and punitive damages.