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Fattist Employers Need to Work Things Out
By WLR Dietitian
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A new survey has confirmed what many
overweight people have
thought for years – that obese people are far more likely to
be disadvantaged in the workplace.
The survey, undertaken by
website Personnel Today, interviewed more than 2,000 human
resources (HR) professionals. Worryingly, the results showed
that obese people are discriminated against when applying for
jobs, are passed over for promotion and are more likely to be
made redundant – all purely on the basis of their weight.
In
particular, 93% of HR professionals would choose a ‘normal
weight’ applicant over an obese applicant with the same
experience and qualifications. Meanwhile, around a third of HR
professionals believe obesity is a valid medical reason for
not employing a person and 15% agree they would be less likely
to promote an obese employee. Of even greater concern, is the
fact that 10% thought they could dismiss an employee because
of their size, something that is in clear contravention of
employment law.
WLR says
WLR doesn’t believe in any form of discrimination and is
shocked by these results. We checked out the
Personnel Today
website for their advice on how to tackle fattism in the
workplace. In response to the survey, a feature on their
website sets the record straight for employers – and gives
you, as an employee, an idea of your rights. If you feel
you’ve been discriminated against because of your size, we
suggest you tackle the issue. Here’s a brief lowdown taken
from the Personnel Today website…
- In the vast majority of cases, it’s illegal for
employers to dismiss staff because they are overweight.
- Unfortunately, there’s no specific protection against ‘fattism’,
as is the case for other forms of discrimination in the
workplace such as racism or sexism. This means obese
employees need to rely on various existing employment rights
to claim protection against unfair treatment at work related
to their size.
- An employer cannot simply dismiss you because of your
size – he or she must prove it has an impact on the
business. Dismissal because of a person’s weight must fall
within one of the potentially fair reasons in the Employment
Rights Act 1996: conduct, capability, redundancy, breach of
statutory duty or “some other substantial reason”.
- Capability is the most obvious reason where obesity may
affect a person’s ability to work. For example, a flight
attendant who is too large to walk along the aisle of an
aeroplane may be incapable of performing their job.
- Obesity as a matter of misconduct would, in practice,
only apply to a tiny percentage of workers, for example, in
the performing arts or modelling.
- If an employee’s obesity hinders their ability to
perform their job, they may be able to claim under the
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), which, if
successful, could result in costly uncapped compensation for
financial loss and an award for injury to feelings. The DDA
defines disability as “a physical or mental impairment,
which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on an
individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities”. While some conditions such as alcoholism, are
specifically excluded from protection, obesity is not, so it
could fall within the definition. In any event, obesity can
be caused by or lead to a number of conditions such as
depression, diabetes or arthritis, which may themselves
attract protection under the DDA.
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