by Kylie Crawford TenBrook
I am sorry to inform you that Paula “butter-your-bacon” Deen has become a health fanatic. A recent article in People magazine featured her weight loss transformation–and a recipe for marinated vegetable salad. (BOR-ING!) Of course, she looks great and will probably live a lot longer. And she’s a good role model for America. Blah, blah, blah. But what about me? My advice to Food Network: Fire her. I need my butter.
Weight, weight, don’t tell me
In all honesty, I think what Paula has done is great, and I’m glad she’s living a healthier lifestyle. But her story (and my desire to have her fired from her TV show) presents an interesting employment law question. To what extent can an employee’s weight factor into employment decisions?
Some states and localities already have answered that question. San Francisco, California, Binghamton, New York, Santa Cruz, California, and the state of Michigan all have banned discrimination based on height and weight. Madison, Wisconsin, Urbana, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., ban discrimination based on personal or physical appearance. Additionally, the Montana Supreme Court recently held that obesity alone can constitute a disability under the state’s human rights statute, which mirrors the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also has weighed in (pun intended) on the issue. It recently filed a lawsuit in Texas on behalf of a morbidly obese man alleging that his employer discriminated against him based on a disability―his obesity. The majority of the employee’s responsibilities were nonphysical and involved desk work. Occasionally, he was required to operate a forklift. When the seat belt on the forklift no longer fit him, he requested a seat belt extender.
The company rejected his request and fired him, with an HR representative (who apparently lacks a word filter) allegedly informing him that the company was firing him because of his weight. (The company couldn’t blame performance because he was, by all accounts, a great employee.) The EEOC took on the employee’s case, ignoring previous court rulings and EEOC guidelines that generally have held that obesity isn’t a disability (unless it’s tied to a physiological condition).
Regardless of the EEOC’s or anyone else’s take on the matter, one thing to keep in mind is that weight issues often are linked (by cause or effect) to a medical condition. Many, if not most, of those medical conditions would be considered disabilities under the ADA ― thanks to the recent amendments to the Act. Accordingly, while on the surface the issue may appear to be weight, it’s often more than skin-deep.
The skinny
The bottom line is this: You shouldn’t discriminate against applicants or employees based on their weight. There’s a chance that a weight issue may be tied to a medical condition, which likely would be considered a disability.
Additionally, based on the EEOC’s recent actions, there’s a chance that obesity alone may constitute a disability. If an employee requests an accommodation that is in any way related to his weight, you should at least consider the options. A seat belt extender is likely a lot cheaper than a lawsuit.
Kylie Crawford TenBrook serves as a corporate counsel for Best Western International, Inc., in Arizona. Previously, she practiced labor and employment law exclusively. In her spare time, she enjoys reading about the misdeeds of celebrities, politicians, and professional athletes and making the tenuous connection between those missteps and what she does for a living.
Great Article!