Legal protections in California Employers cannot treat employees less favorably because of their physical characteristics, which include obesity. ing to FEHA, they also must provide reasonable accommodations for employees who have disabilities, including severe obesity, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.
To prove discrimination, plaintiffs must provide evidence that they: (a) are a member of a protected class, (b) are qualified for the position at issue, (c) suffered an adverse employment action, and (d) the employer treated similarly situated employees outside of the protected class more favorably (or some other ...
In most states employees can be fired because of their weight. Michigan is the only state that has passed a law explicitly prohibiting weight-based discrimination and the Washington state Supreme Court has declared that obesity is covered under their anti-discrimination law.
Older adults face more subtle forms of weight stigma in their daily environment. For example, in many doctor's offices, examination tables and gowns do not accommodate people of larger size. This is also true on many commercial airplanes, where seats will not fit an individual who carries significant excess weight.
These are all examples of what we call weight bias. The negative attitudes and judgments (conscious or subconscious) toward individuals who are overweight or obese. These beliefs all too often lead to discriminatory practices. Talk about an excellent way to undermine the struggles that these people are going through.
Even though discrimination based on weight has a negative impact on people's health and wellness, there is only one state in the U.S – Michigan – that has an anti-weight discrimination law.
The workplace is a common setting where weight bias and discrimination occur. Employees who have a higher body weight face weight-based inequities in employment including unfair hiring practices, lower wages, fewer promotions, harassment from co-workers, and unfair job termination.
Weight discrimination is when someone receives different treatment than others because of their body weight. People of higher weights are often discriminated against at work, school, healthcare settings, and in interpersonal relationships.
Obesity discrimination is not currently afforded legal status as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010). However, obesity-related conditions (eg, osteoarthritis), may be in scope where an employee is able to satisfy the legal definition of a disability under EqA 2010.