Background: Obese individuals are frequent targets of weight-based discrimination, particularly in the employment setting. Victims of weight discrimination have sought legal restitution like others who have suffered from different forms of discrimination. However, in the vast majority of the United States, body weight is not a protected class and weight-based employment discrimination does not provide a basis for a legal claim. Some have attempted to seek legal recourse under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (collectively, the ADA), which protect against discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities in a variety of settings. Until recently, claims of weight discrimination under the ADA have also been largely unsuccessful. However, Congress recently passed the ADA Amendments Act, expanding the definition of what constitutes a disability and incorporating a broad view of ADA's coverage.
Objective: This short communication provides an update of the law as it relates to employment based discrimination of obese people. The authors propose a legislative direction for future legal recourse.
Design and methods: The authors conducted legal research into the ADA Amendments Act, and synthesized this work relating to discrimination against weight in the employment context.
Results: In light of the ADA Amendments Act, courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have provided protection for severely obese people from discrimination based on actual or perceived disability in the employment context.
Conclusion: The authors discuss this positive legal development and additionally propose a targeted solution to address weight discrimination in the employment setting. National polling suggests there is considerable public support for such a measure. The authors thus recommend the implementation of a "Weight Discrimination in Employment Act" modeled after the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to adequately address this pervasive and damaging injustice toward individuals who are affected by obesity.
Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.
Stein MA, Waterstone ME. Stein MA, et al. Duke Law J. 2006 Dec;56(3):861-922. Duke Law J. 2006. PMID: 17302006
Westreich LM. Westreich LM. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2002;30(3):355-63. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2002. PMID: 12380414
[No authors listed] [No authors listed] AIDS Policy Law. 1997 Mar 21;12(5):4-5. AIDS Policy Law. 1997. PMID: 11364167
Blanck PD, Marti MW. Blanck PD, et al. Behav Sci Law. 1996 Autumn;14(4):411-32. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0798(199623)14:4 3.0.CO;2-H. Behav Sci Law. 1996. PMID: 9156421 Review.
Blanck PD, Butkowski CR. Blanck PD, et al. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 1998 Jun;25(2):435-45. doi: 10.1016/s0889-8545(05)70017-6. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 1998. PMID: 9629583 Review.
Levy M, Forouhar V, Edache IY, Alberga AS. Levy M, et al. Front Public Health. 2023 Apr 17;11:1060794. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1060794. eCollection 2023. Front Public Health. 2023. PMID: 37139379 Free PMC article.
Flint SW. Flint SW. EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Jul 22;52:101583. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101583. eCollection 2022 Oct. EClinicalMedicine. 2022. PMID: 35899290 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Puhl RM, Lessard LM, Pearl RL, Grupski A, Foster GD. Puhl RM, et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021 Nov;29(11):1787-1798. doi: 10.1002/oby.23275. Epub 2021 Oct 5. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021. PMID: 34612007 Free PMC article.
Rubino F, Puhl RM, Cummings DE, Eckel RH, Ryan DH, Mechanick JI, Nadglowski J, Ramos Salas X, Schauer PR, Twenefour D, Apovian CM, Aronne LJ, Batterham RL, Berthoud HR, Boza C, Busetto L, Dicker D, De Groot M, Eisenberg D, Flint SW, Huang TT, Kaplan LM, Kirwan JP, Korner J, Kyle TK, Laferrère B, le Roux CW, McIver L, Mingrone G, Nece P, Reid TJ, Rogers AM, Rosenbaum M, Seeley RJ, Torres AJ, Dixon JB. Rubino F, et al. Nat Med. 2020 Apr;26(4):485-497. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0803-x. Epub 2020 Mar 4. Nat Med. 2020. PMID: 32127716 Free PMC article. Review.
Blake VK, Hatzenbuehler ML. Blake VK, et al. Milbank Q. 2019 Jun;97(2):480-504. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12391. Epub 2019 May 13. Milbank Q. 2019. PMID: 31087411 Free PMC article.