Why Weight?

Hypothetical: Overweight woman comes into my office complaining that she was discriminated because of her weight. Her former boss has made abusive comments about her size and has made multiple comments about it. Is she protected under our current disability law? Is weight considered a disability? Weight discrimination is a fairly new issue in the employment law arena. Unfortunately, there are only a few cases covering this topic and usually they are covered by a state statute or public policy that prohibits weight discrimination. For example, persons living in Washington D.C., Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Michigan are protected against discrimination by special statutes. Outside of these jurisdictions, persons must rely on federal law including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Discrimination Act, and Rehabilitation Act of 1973…which have not proven helpful in states that don’t already have these protections. Furthermore, courts have held that the Americans with Disabilities Act only protects persons whose excess weight or obesity relates to a physiological disorder.

Thus, persons who believe they have been discriminated against based on weight should be mindful that there just aren’t many cases on this subject when compared to other employment discrimination matters.