Labor Law Center Blog » Blog Archive » Overweight Discrimination

Overweight Discrimination

September 28th, 2006 Posted by Nicole

Overweight discrimination, or discrimination against overweight people in the workplace, is strictly illegal. While there is no law strictly regulation discrimination in accordance with weight, many people might argue that weight is a disability and is guarded under the Disabilities Discrimination Act.

Discrimination is a situation in which a person makes assumptions about another person based on the person’s physical appearance or religious beliefs. The person making the assumptions generally does not make those assumptions based on any understanding of the person. Thus, the assumptions are made on a superficial level and are usually based on deeply rooted prejudice.

When it comes to race discrimination, employers often choose to hire, fire or provide more opportunities to individuals that are not overweight. As such, overweight discrimination occurs. For some reason, many employers equate weight with productivity and laziness. Psychologist have even proved that overweight people have less employment opportunities simply because they are overweight.

However, it is still illegal to discriminate against a person based on his or her race. The Civil Rights Act of the 1960s clearly outlines certain parameters pertaining to workplace discrimination. The Act states that it is illegal to discriminate against a person based on race, religion, sex, gender or age. While the act does not state that overweight discrimination is illegal, it can be inferred that any form of discrimination based on physical appearances can be categorized under the Civil Rights Act.

The Disabilities Discrimination Act was put into place in 1990 and outlawed discrimination against people with disabilities. While scientists are still learning about what makes a person overweight, many believe that overweightness is related to having certain disabilities.

All places of work are required to have labor law posters that outline information pertaining to labor laws. These labor law posters also contain contact information for state and federal agencies that oversee the regulation of certain labor laws.