Q: What Are the Chances of Winning an EEOC Case? A: The EEOC has a very high success rate when it comes to court decisions, reaching favorable outcomes in nearly 96% of all district court cases stemming from EEOC complaints.
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.
However, discrimination is a state of mind and, therefore, notoriously hard to prove. Sophisticated employers are well aware that discrimination is illegal. Thus, most cases are established through circumstantial evidence.
It Is Usually Best to File a Complaint With the DFEH But it is a good strategy to file a complaint with the EEOC too. Doing so will preserve your right to sue your employer under both state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
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.
Other areas that ban discrimination based on height and weight include Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California, Binghamton, New York, Urbana, Illinois, Madison, Wisconsin, and the entire state of Michigan.
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.
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 ...
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.
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.