Question

A University of Florida study found that the most overweight workers in the American workplace had thirteen times more lost workdays due to work-related injuries than fit workers and that the medical claims for these injuries were seven times more costly than those of their fit co-workers. Shortly after publication of this study, a boutique clothing store in fitness-conscious Boca Raton, Florida, adopted a policy that any applicant whose BMI (body mass index) exceeded the ideal weight for persons of their height, weight, and gender by 20% would not be hired. The policy provided further that any employee who subsequently exceeded this weight benchmark would be discharged.   Jessica Chin, a Asian female, was a six year employee of Sunshine Fashions.   She was terminated from her job after a recent weigh-in session, required of all employees, showed her to exceed the ideal weight limit.   Although not proven, its well known that many minority women in South Florida have more trouble dealing with obesity issues than their white counterparts.  Would Jessica have a legitimate claim to get her job back?  Please advise.

Answer 1

Jackie would have a legitimate claim to get her job back. Even though obesity is not a discrimination factor covered by the federal laws including ADA, the employer should be able to provide reasonable grounds on which the employee was fired. The employer should show that the employee was not able to perform the essential functions of the job based on obesity while terminating the employee to avoid the claims based on wrongful termination. In this case Jackie is a worker in a boutique and obesity does not impair the ability of a boutique worker from performing the necessary functions of the job. Hence the boutique's policy to discriminate based on BMI is illegal and the employer cannot terminate Jackie based on obesity.