Weight Discrimination

HR 407 Employment Law Weight Discrimination: Are You Too Fat To Work Here? Sue Spring* Quarter 200*9 *June 6*, 2009 INTRODUCTION As the average weight for Americans increases, businesses are faced with obesity as they look to hire positions. Is this against the law? What about essential functions of the job? Can a business offer reasonable accommodations for a prospective obese employee? Are these employees being discriminated against in the hiring process? These are questions I will strive to answer here. I have felt discriminated for being a plus-size woman in the workplace and I want to find out if this is happening other places in the United States. Over 100 million Americans areoverweight and approximately 70 million American adults are considered obese. These are staggering numbers and as industry grows so does the very real possibility that a business will be faced with hiring the morbidlyobese. What protection does a business have, if any? What protection does the applicant have, if any? WHAT IS OBESITY? People are considered obese if they weigh more than 20 percent above the expected weight for their age, height and body build. Morbid obesity is defined as body weight that is 100 pounds above the expected weight for a particular age, height and build. One particular item of interest here is that people who share the same numerical weight could have quite different appearances. According to the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, obesity is associated with increased risks of diabetes, hypertension, some cancers, sleep disorders and osteoarthritis. Risks and complications associated with obesity cost the country’s health care system an estimated $117 billion per year, the US Surgeon General has estimated. Obesity-related illness accounts for 18 million sick days annually in the U.S. (Sartore, 2007). According to the National Institute of Health, between $75 and $125 billion is spent annually on

Bibliography: All nicknames aren’t created equal. (2008, August). Legal Alert for Supervisors. Pg. 3. Bigissue puts HR in spotlight (cover story) Carpenter, C. (2006, July). The effects of employment protection for obese people. Industrial Relations, 45(3). Retrieved May 6, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Dempsey, K Dempsey, K. (2005, October 25). New f-word is rude awakening for HR. Personnel Today. Retrieved May 3, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Duecy, E Finkelstein, L., Frautschy Demuth, R. & Sweeney, D. (2007, Summer). Bias against overweight job applicants: Further explorations of when and why. Human Resource Management, 46(2). Retrieved May 10, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Fox, R Klein, K. (2007, May 3). Hiring obese employees. _ Business Week Online_, Retrieved May 3, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Lombardo, N Nicholas, A. (2006, September). Super-sized liabilities. Inside Counsel,16(178), 18-20. Retrieved May 27, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Overweight workers facing discrimination Ryan, L. (2007, August 10). Too heavy for our team? Business Week Online, Retrieved May 13, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Sartore, M Weis, W. & Arnesen, D. (2006). Weight discrimination: The next workplace brouhaha? Academy of Health Care Management Journal, 2. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from Business Source Complete database. Why appearance may be your next discrimination law challenge