Obesity Discrimination Final Paper In APA

Obesity Discrimination
Harold Hanks
Columbia College

Abstract

There are many forms of discrimination found in the workplace. One form of discrimination that is not as often discussed or highlighted is “obesity”. This is a form of discrimination that is also known as “sizeism”. This discrimination seems to have been passing under the radar, but it is on the rise in recent studies. Obesity discrimination is becoming as frequent as racial, ethnical, religious, and sexual orientation discrimination. Is obesity discrimination affecting the work place negatively or positively? I guess the answer depends on if you are an employer or employee. I have had a personal experience, with a superior that I feel was extremely forward with his obesity prejudice. There are only a few legitimate medical reasons for obesity. Obesity can also be a side effect of certain medical conditions. Obesity is normally based on a medical chart or graph that represents your Body Mass Index or BMI. Most medical charts are laid out according to your height and weight. Commonly, people dealing with obesity are labeled as undisciplined and lazy. There are very few laws that cover obesity discrimination at this time. I think that obesity will continue being a growing problem in terms of discrimination and health.
Key Words: obesity, sizeism, body mass index Obesity Discrimination
There are many types of discrimination in the work force. Obesity and size discrimination is working its way up the list to become a predominate issue. I hope that it will soon be addressed and dealt with in a fair way for all that are affected. I would like to see it dealt with at a state or government level. Guess we just have to see what the future holds.
Sizeism and Obesity
What is sizeism? The Oxford (US English) Dictionaries (2012) defines sizeism as “prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s size: requiring large passengers to buy two seats is pure sizeism”. How is Obesity defined? Jae Rauhut (2012) notes that “The medical community defines obesity as having more than 30 percent body fat for men and more than 25 percent body fat for women. In other words, obese is generally considered being 30 to 40 pounds overweight, severely obese is about 60 pounds overweight, morbidly obese is 100 pounds overweight, and super obese is over 200 pounds overweight”. Medical conditions that cause obesity are not very common but do exist. According to WebMD (2009), some causes of obesity are Hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, and Depression. They also noted that certain medications can cause excess weight gain such as some steroids, antidepressants, high blood pressure drugs and seizure medication. (WebMD, 2009) A physician can diagnose if weight gain is a side effect of a certain type of medication. Some studies have even shown that genetic factors can play a part in 70-80% of current obese individuals.
Obesity Discrimination Positive or Negative
Various research and studies shows that obese individuals tend to make less money and have a harder time finding jobs. Women tend to face a higher bias than men. This is believed to be due to social norms of how women should look in the work place. Women can be perceived as a means of selling a product. Women that do not meet this perception find their more attractive peers getting the jobs. A study was done where women applicants put two small pictures on separate resumes. The first picture was before weight loss surgery and the second was after weight loss surgery. The outcome showed that the women before surgery were negatively affected in starting salary, leadership potential, and candidate selection for the position.
Discrimination of any form in my opinion is negative to both individuals and to the organizations bottom line, profit. Not hiring qualified individuals due to their size is not a good business practice. Suzanne Lucas (2012) gives some reasons why she thinks obesity discrimination is a really bad policy, “You will lose out on some great candidates.” , “BMI is actually a poor predictor of health.”, “What do you do when your star employee gains weight?”, and “It’s bad public relations.”. I feel that she is totally correct on the BMI statement, because I have had personal experience with this type of weight determination method. I have also experience the loss of good Soldiers due to an extra couple of pounds that did not affect their abilities at work.
I also feel that there are some situations where weight would hinder your performance in certain jobs. Bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ) laws have to be considered and documented. I believe that there should be a physical examination that is geared directly toward the tasks to be performed at that specific job. If these tasks can be performed, then there should be no issues of an individual’s BMI or the way they appear. I would also have to factor in others being put at risk, such as medical response teams. Individuals would have to be able to perform all necessary aspects of this job in order to eliminate putting others in danger.
This is only a small opinionated aspect to looking at the positives and negatives of obesity discrimination in the work place. After dealing with this issue, in my military career, I can only imagine what is happening in the civilian work force.
Personal Experience
I have served in the Army for 22 years. I joined the Army overweight in 1990. The military physical fitness training programs quickly got me to within the weight standards set by the Army. I remained physically fit and below weight standards for 14 years. I was never what was known as a “PT Stud” but I passed all of my physical fitness tests. I performed my duties and training to the standards expected of me. My career advanced at a steady rate. Around 2004, toward the end of my first deployment to Iraq, I began to struggle with being overweight and barely making the BMI percentage for my height. Of course, my leadership just told me to do more physical training and stop eating too much. I dealt with this scenario until my second deployment.
In the summer of 2006, while in Iraq, I began to put on significant weight. I gained about 30 pounds in four to five months. I was posted at a convoy repair center and was not posted with my unit leadership for this deployment. Again, my leadership just blamed me for being lazy and eating too much chow. I redeployed back to Fort Sill and annotated on my medical evaluation that I felt something was wrong. Of course, they ran the normal tests and said I was fine. This meant, again, I was just lazy.
Well, in the summer of 2007, my wife was referred to a specialist in Oklahoma City. The Army faxed a copy of my wife’s records and blood work to her appointment. At this appointment, she was told that she needed to start thyroid medication due to her blood work. She made a follow up appointment at Reynolds Army Community Hospital. The doctor there told her she had nothing wrong with her blood. The doctor then looked up my blood work and diagnosed me with hypothyroidism. I was started on the lowest dose of synthetic thyroid and told to come back in a year. Of course, I still continued to gain weight and they finally sent me to a specialist off post. One year after seeing an endocrinologist in OKC, I had lost 90 pounds. I was no longer Obese.
The discrimination side of this was negative in many ways. I felt that I was labeled fat and lazy without fully eliminating medical reasons. I had one incident where a Command Sergeant Major belittled me about my weight very loudly and graphically in front of my subordinates and peers. This person had no clue of my medical background and did not care to hear about it. Needless to say my self-esteem was greatly affected.
I also felt that it did not matter what was in my records for promotion. I had evaluation reports that noted my weight issue and the rest was irrelevant. I came to a conclusion that, even though I had lost the weight, I would never get promoted. So, with no chance at progression, due to my illness, it was time to leave the Army. I am glad I made this decision, because I wanted to leave before the situation made me bitter toward a great organization.
Laws and Obesity
There are currently no federal laws that make weight based discrimination illegal. Tonia Williams (2012) writes “Federal Civil Rights laws prohibit discrimination of individuals based on race, national origin, religion, disability, and age, and do not provide protection based on weight”. Does obesity meet the requirements to be considered a disability? This is a question that is very debatable. “The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides protection to those individuals who are morbidly obese, where the obesity is the result of a physiological condition or disorder, and the obesity substantially limits one or more major life activities.” (Williams, 2012). This definition would eliminate a large percentage of the obese people from protection under the ADA.
Michigan is the only state with laws to protect against weight discrimination practices. Massachusetts is following suit with Michigan. It is currently in the process of forming legislation to prevent weight discrimination. Some states have local ordinances to protect against obesity discrimination. I believe that the Federal Government should pass laws to stop this practice. Of course, there are many who most likely would disagree with me.
We are mostly aware that there are many forms of discrimination found in the workplace. Obesity and weight discrimination is a topic of great importance. I believe that it still needs to be addressed at all levels. Federal Law should be made to protect against obesity and weight discrimination. Even though, there are only a few legitimate medical reasons for obesity, medical issues need to be tested and eliminated. I feel that the current MBI and weight charts need to be reviewed by a professional medical board and updated accordingly. Employee’s need to train and make their employee’s aware that medical conditions exist. Individuals dealing with obesity should not just be labeled as undisciplined and lazy. If not dealt with accordingly, I feel that obesity will continue to be a steadily growing discrimination issue.
References
Lucas, S. (2012). Is it OK to discriminate against obese people? Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57407790/is-it-ok-to-discriminate-against-obese-people
Oxford Dictionaries (2012). Definition of sizeism. Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/sizeism
Rauhut, J. (2012). Labor Laws & Obesity. Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/about_6300681_labor-laws-obesity.html
WebMD (2009). Medical Causes of Obesity. Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://www.webmd.com/diet/medical-reasons-obesity.html
Williams, T. (2012). EEO Laws & Obesity. Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/about_6360736_eeo-laws-obesity.html