When can you say “You’re too fat for this job?”
April 17, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: Dubious decisions, Here comes the judge, Special Report
If you asked managers at your company to name types of employment discrimination, they might answer age, gender, racial or disability. What they might not guess is the fourth-largest type of discrimination, according to a new survey.
In the entire history of employer-employee relationships, managers have come up with an infinite number of bad reasons not to hire qualified workers.
Imagine this scenario: Joe and Mark have both applied at your company to fill an open supervisor’s position. The department manager has taken their individual qualities into account.
Joe appears to be the better choice between two good applicants. However, the department manager wants to promote Mark instead.
As an HR rep, you ask the manager why he had decided to go with Mark. The manager replies, “Well, Joe has more years experience, a better knowledge base and his performance numbers are better. But I don’t think his appearance would make as good an impression on customers as Mark’s would.”
Unlikely? It happens more than you might expect.
A Yale University survey found 5% of men and 10% of women said they faced discrimination because of their weight, ranging from job refusals to rude treatment.
You can be sued
It’s worse for those considered severely obese: 40% reported instances of weight discrimination.
Among all adults, weight discrimination ranks fourth among all types after gender, age and racial. For women, it ranks third behind gender and age.
Federal law offers no legal protection to people who are slightly overweight, obese or severely obese.
However, that hasn’t stopped some courts from ruling that workers have faced discrimination because of their weight.
The problem becomes more complicated because of instances where weight has been recognized as a legitimate workplace disability. Consider the case of Bonnie Cook.
In 1993, a federal court ruled Cook was discriminated against because of her weight. At five-foot-two and 320 pounds, Cook qualified as severely obese. She wasn’t hired by a state-run facility for people who are mentally challenged because she might not be able to help them evacuate in an emergency and that her weight put her at greater risk of developing serious ailments.
Cook sued. The state argued her obesity wasn’t a disability because she could lose the weight. The court dismissed that reasoning, saying the metabolic dysfunction that can result in obesity can remain even after a person has lost weight.
So if an employer treats an obese person as disabled or if the applicant/worker believes the company is treating her as if she’s disabled, that person may fall under the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a state’s fair employment law.
What can you do to make sure managers aren’t setting up your company for a potential lawsuit for discriminating against someone who is overweight? The best bet is education for your managers. Emphasize that their job is to look for the best people for jobs without regard to gender, age, race, and, yes weight.
We’d like to hear what you have to say about this issue.
Tags: ADA, employment discrimination, overweight employees, severe obesity
April 18th, 2008 at 11:24 am
The court dismissed that reasoning, saying the metabolic dysfunction that can result in obesity can remain even after a person has lost weight.
This sounds like the state-run facility won. There were legitimate reasons not to hire her that are associated with her extreme obesity.
On your scenario, it also sounds like a legitimate reason, though you don’t say whether or not the person is extemely overweight. If you can’t get customers you don’t have a business. If a salesperson can’t get customers, he gets released, and in the meantime, a company loses business. I don’t know how “legal” it is, in this way-overly litigious society, to ask someone to lose weight in order to get the promotion — that is, one in which weight does have repercussions. But, if weight has no bearing on the ability to do the job, then yes, I would call that discrimination.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Had the facility developed requirements that related to physically accomplishing a task that was essential, then determined that Cook could not perform that task as required and there was no reasonable accommodation (great being in HR ain’t it!), they would have been on more solid ground than also stating that her weight put her at greater risk of developing serious ailments. They would have had a much cleaner and perhaps easier case to defend.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
This is utterly ridiculous. now we have to accept that fact that “metabolic dysfunction” is so difficult to reverse?
April 21st, 2008 at 9:05 am
I present the following purely for the sake of intellectual discourse: What happens if one takes into account the statistical facts that obese people will have more health problems and increased absenteeism? If this is not an issue now, it most likely will be in the future, as health-care costs continue to rise.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:06 am
I agree that overweight people should not be discriminated against - that’s just wrong. But in Bonnie Cook’s case, she was unable to perform the required functions of her job - and it’s a job that cannot be modified for her inability to help patients.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I don’t think enough of the story is here to be able to tell for sure, but what I’d like to know is:
1. Did the state-run facility establish in the job description that “helping evacuate in an emergency” was an essential job function? If not, they’re on pretty shaky ground saying that was why she wouldn’t be hired.
2. Even if that was an essential job function, would Ms. Cook be able to perform the duty with or without accommodation (sounds in this story like the facility just ASSUMED she couldn’t do it — maybe she could??).
If both answers are no, Cook has a good case regardless of any metabolic dysfunction or disability…perceived, controllable or otherwise. The task of concern needs to be an essential job function, and it needs to be confirmed whether it could be performed with accommodation. I can’t tell that from the story here…but that’s the crux of the issue.
The fact that her weight might increase her risk of ailments should be of no concern to the company in terms of hiring her.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Let’s stop for a moment and consider what we’re talking about … what is the purpose of an interview afterall? Trying to find the best QUALIFIED person to do the job. It’s not a popularity or beauty contest. If you’re not measuring the candidate by their qualifications to perform the job, then you should get out of management and definitely out of HR. I don’t know about you, but where I am located, we’re having a hard time finding qualified candidates. Quite frankly, none of this superfluous stuff matters — I have job openings because my company has a legitimate need for more people.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
I am an employee in a state mental health facility. I understand the concern of the facility. Many of our patients have at one time been physically aggressive as well as escape risks. I do believe that morbid obesity is a risk factor when it comes to the physical ability to protect psych patients, other clients, and staff that work with them.
I have encountered staff members who have been “resistant” to help with patients because of “back problems”, which by the way, have not qualified them for light duty. I am an X-Ray Tech and do need adequate patient supervision of patients when I am trying to concentrate on caring for them.
I believe that direct care staff in mental health facilities should undergo a physical agility/performance test as the Department of Corrections mandates, in order to cover themselves in situations such as this one.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:46 am
I lost my job a few months ago. I have been trying to get a job since I lost it. I have put in at least 20 applications. I haven’t had any of those places call me back. I am about 270 pounds. I feel that they see me only for my weight. I was starting to lose weight before I lost my job but when I lost my job I went into a depression and gained weight again. I am frustrated because its going to be awhile before I will look “good” to employees. I am about to lose my house and my car because I have no income and have no one to help me. I am frustrated because I feel that I am qualified for several different things. I can’t even get a job at a factory. How sad is that? I have some college courses in my pocket. I have worked in human services field, cook, and also worked in a bookstore. I have experience and still no one will hire me. I totally understand feeling like you are being discriminated against because of weight. I cant’ imagine why I can’t get any job I have applied for. Hello, I haven’t job hopped. I feel like I am a good employee. My former co-workers and I worked well together. I do feel like its my weight and its hard not too