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
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