Posted by Mark in 
When Kevin Smith (yes, @ThatKevinSmith) was grounded from a Southwest Airlines flight on Saturday, February 13, a fresh media firestorm was just taking off. The topic: weight discrimination (and rotten customer service) seems to be the last remaining socially accepted form of bigotry. And it’s not just costing obese passengers the price of an extra ticket—“weight-ism” is costing employees a lot of money.
Companies like airlines can cite safety concerns and courtesy to affected passengers as the motivation behind their rules, but when employees are allowed to change the letter of the law as they see fit, the true spirit of the law shines through. People think it’s okay to discriminate against their overweight peers, and there’s a glut of statistics to prove it.
The Council on Size & Weight Discrimination cites several studies in the last decade that show the financial affects of weight discrimination in the workplace. Here are some of the more shocking figures:
- Heavier workers earn $1.25 an hour less than their average-weight peers, adding up to a $100,000 difference in a 40-year career.
- Additional weight hurts women even more—slightly overweight women can expect a 6% pay discrepancy, whereas more obese women make 24% less.
- A survey of people 50% over their ideal weight showed that 17% were fired or pressured to resign because of their weight.
A 2009 Weight Bias Study from Yale (PDF) showed that a job applicant or employee’s weight had a considerable effect on employment decisions such as hiring, placement, and coworker evaluations. According the study, “it was demonstrated that overweight job applicants and employees were evaluated more negatively and had more negative employment outcomes compared to non-overweight applicants and employees.” []
Perhaps the most shocking fact of all is that weight discrimination is almost perfectly legal. Only one state (Michigan) features legislation against weight discrimination. There have been individual cases where employers’ policies have been ruled against, but the standards that protect individuals’ rights against age, race, religious, and gender discrimination offer no such shelter to the obese. Obviously, we have to ask . . . should they?
Most definitely. First of all, for many people, obesity is more of a disease than a choice, as genetic predispositions, glandular complications, and other medical conditions can affect a person’s ability to control weight gain. And secondly, obesity doesn’t directly reduce most employees’ abilities to perform job functions. Yes, there is a higher risk in some cases of lost time due to associated health problems, but the discrimination uncovered by studies generally has nothing to do with health and everything to do with character judgments.
It really shouldn’t take a Hollywood director with an itchy Twitter finger to open our eyes to a problem that affects virtually every company in America. Don’t you ever stop to wonder why every employee review seems to have an “Appearance” category? It’s because looks mean a lot in the corporate world, and right or wrong, we have to deal with it. There’s a certain amount of superficial business everyone has to attend to, from small talk to suits and ties.
So what can you do? Here are a few rules of thumb:
- Treat people with respect, regardless of their appearance. That’s especially important if you’re in customer service.
- Evaluate employees, applicants, and coworkers according to the merits of who they are and what they do, not how much they weigh.
- If you’re overweight and you’re the victim of discrimination, don’t be afraid to speak out on behalf of your rights. Be direct and assertive, and show respect for yourself and those in a position to help you.
- Keep a positive attitude. No one should have to put up with discrimination, but it’s twice as bad when you begin to believe that you are worth less.
What are your thoughts on the issue? Do you think weight discrimination is a significant problem? How have you seen it play out in the workplace? Has it ever prevented you from getting or keeping a job? Let us know in the comments section.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by applicants: The Cost of Being Fat : $100,000 Over a Lifetime http://bit.ly/bwQl8Y...
It could be that overweight people tend to be less energetic than thin people. Of course, we are talking generalities here.
Many jobs still have a physical component. Overweight people may not have the ability to perform certain tasks as well as fit people. Therefore the decrease in pay that the obese have.
It is tragic that overweight people are discriminated against in situations where their weight has nothing to do with their job performance, etc. However, there are instances where obesity does affect other people, and that includes on airplanes. Not only is sitting beside a very large person uncomfortable, but it costs the rest of the passengers money. Do you know how much less fuel airplanes would use, and hence how much cheaper our tickets could be, if everyone on the plane was a healthy body weight?
That doesn’t even begin to touch the added cost of health care everybody shoulders because some people don’t take care of themselves (I’m talking about smokers and heavy drinkers just as much people who are obese). A huge percentage of disease in this country is weight-related, from diabetes to heart disease. Everybody’s premiums are inflated to cover this.
It’s true that a small portion of obese individuals suffer from glandular conditions, etc. that make it difficult if not impossible for them to maintain healthy body weights. However, the vast majority of people who are overweight are overweight because they eat too many calories and don’t exercise enough. To pretend otherwise is ridiculous and simply enables the destructive self-indulgent tendencies given free reign in our society.
Does this mean we shouldn’t treat overweight individuals with the same dignity and respect we accord everyone else? Of course not, but they don’t deserve special treatment. If you use two seats on an airplane, you pay for two seats.
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Thanks for posting this nice article! Unfortunately it is a reality that overweight people are said to lack self-discipline, being sick and even to be more lazy than “normal” weight colleges. For job hunters there are some general rules to follow. First of all, gather together all of your former employment records, especially your job evaluations. In case the employer claims that your weight prevents you from doing the job, you can prove that you have been performing all the required duties. Second, keep a positive attitude. No one should have to put up with discrimination, but it’s twice as bad when you begin to believe that you are worth less.
Before starting with your active job search, you should really try to reduce your weight and to improve your physical form performing exercises, as this will be recognized positively in each job interview. Interviewer are normal people and not immune of prejudices.
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