Question of the Week: Obesity Discrimination
Here’s this week’s question . . .
Is it unlawful to discriminate against an employee on the basis of his or her weight?
Great question.
A recent Yale University study concluded that weight discrimination is more common than discrimination based on disability, religion, national origin and sexual orientation and only slightly less common than race, gender and age discrimination.
The study also found that women are twice as likely as men to face weight discrimination. Researchers found that women typically start experiencing discrimination when their body mass index (BMI) reaches 27 or higher, while men typically don’t unless their BMI is 35 or higher.
So, obesity discrimination appears to be common. But is it unlawful?
As of now, federal law doesn’t include obesity as a proteced class. But Michigan and a few municipalities (e.g., San Francisco and Washington, D.C.) do.
Courts have ruled that workplace weight standards could constitute disparate treatment discrimination if they have an adverse impact on a protected class (e.g., women). Moreover, obesity could potentially constitute a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if it renders an employee unable to perform certain “major life activities.” On the workers’ compensation front, one court recently required an employer to pay for weight-reduction surgery for a 340-pound employee to increase the chances that surgery related to a work injury would be successful. Click here for more on that case.
The Bottom Line?
The best approach is to stick to purely job-related factors. Anything else can result in bad decisions, hurt employee morale and possibly land you in court.
(Special thanks to Kevin Kopp of Roberts & Stevens for the tip on the worker’s comp case discussed above.)
