SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Cirque du Soleil will reinstate an HIV-positive gymnast after federal labor investigators found “reasonable cause” to believe the Montreal-based circus engaged in job discrimination when it fired the performer because of his condition.

The offer came hours after the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission upheld the merits of a complaint brought by the fired gymnast, Matthew Cusick. A Cirque du Soleil spokeswoman said the circus was placing “no restrictions” on the kind of acts in which Cusick could appear.

“We are ready to welcome him back,” Cirque du Soleil spokeswoman Renee-Claude Menard said. “Our job now is to make sure it’s done quickly and efficiently.”

The sudden turnaround in Cirque du Soleil’s position was hailed by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented Cusick.

“For the last eight months, we have tried to get Cirque du Soleil to understand the seriousness of firing someone simply because he has HIV,” said Hayley Gorenberg, director of Lambda Legal’s AIDS Project. “We are very encouraged that the federal government’s findings will force Cirque to finally take this seriously.”

Cirque du Soleil, which is known for its daring aerial acts, never denied that Cusick was fired as a “catcher” in the Russian High Bar act and as an acrobat in the Chinese tall pole act days before he was to join the “Mystere” show in Las Vegas because of his HIV status.

Cusick, 32, voluntarily disclosed his health condition and had spent four months training with the group when he was informed his contact had been terminated because he posed a health risk to fellow performers. He filed his complaint under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which includes protections for people with HIV.

Menard downplayed the role the EEOC determination had in persuading Cirque du Soleil to change its position. Rather, she insisted the circus was convinced after consulting medical experts who said “the risks are minimal” that an acrobat infected with HIV would pass the virus on to another performer.

“We have had a sufficient amount of time to go in depth with the research on this and be thorough in getting a better understanding of the risks of HIV,” she said.

Cusick said in an interview that it was too soon to say whether he will accept Cirque du Soleil’s offer because he had only learned of it through a news release the circus issued and that he had not been contacted directly. But he said he was pleased by the EEOC’s ruling.

“It is very exciting to know they are standing behind me for this,” he said.

Details of a settlement, including possible monetary damages, still would have to be negotiated, Gorenberg said, adding that Cusick wants to make sure Cirque du Soleil changes its hiring and training policies “so no one would have to go through what he had to go through.”

Menard said Cirque would consider hiring other HIV-positive performers if they met all physical and talent requirements.

“For quality we are not going to go the other way now. We are not going to have a special HIV show,” she said.

Cusick’s case attracted support from well-known athletes and Hollywood celebrities after Lambda Legal organized protests outside venues where the circus was performing in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Menard said she hoped such public relations problems would end now that the two sides were moving toward a settlement.

“We would rather people think of a Cirque that is close to our shows and not close to this incident,” she said.