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HIV/AIDS is a major health problem which is increasingly affecting the workplace. It is a disease which impacts people during their employment years. The Centers for Disease Control believes that every U.S. employer will eventually have at least one employee with AIDS. Employers will probably deal more with the mental health aspects than the physical health aspects of AIDS. This article examines the organic (AIDS Dementia Complex) and the emotional psychological aspects of AIDS, reviews the employer's and manager's responsibilities in regard to AIDS, and suggests actions that can be taken to assist employees with AIDS, their families, co-workers, and the organization.

Fringe benefits are a growing part of the compensation package. Unions and employee associations have played a significant role in the development of fringe benefits. A survey of major unions and employee associations indicates of the new fringe benefits dental coverage, vision coverage, employee assistance programs, maternity leave, and alternative work schedules are the most prevalent in current contracts. Sabbatical leaves are most prevalent as a new benefit in current negotiations, and child care, eldercare, and legal coverage are the most likely new fringes to be negotiated in the future. The standard benefit areas of health and pensions are presently the fringe benefit issues most involved in retrieval bargaining. They are also perceived as both currently and over the next ten years as the most important fringe benefit issues in collective bargaining.

Over the last 30 years, California dejure (legislated) mental health policy has been based on deinstitutionalization and outpatient care through community mental health systems. But by the end of the 1970s, there was a growing concern over whether deinstitutionalization had successfully occurred, whether community mental health systems had failed and whether mental health systems had ever been adequately funded. In a national study released in 1990, California was named one of four states where mental health delivery has regressed in the past two years. A review of current California mental health policies indicates dejure and defacto policies are not the same. Most mental health dollars are going to state hospitals and community acute inpatient facilities. Budgets for community mental health have been steadily eroded, and the current mental health system is in crisis. Implementation of mental health policy is dependent on intergovernmental financing, and each level of government tries to avoid costs. Definitions of which clients are to be served remain unclear while pressures for more social control mount. Mental health remains segregated from physical health policy-making and continues to operate at a political disadvantage in general fund budget battles.

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