for thinking everyone at work should not have to pick up the slack because a colleague is too overweight to do her share?

Yes, it does. But so does greed, enjoying cake, a lack of exercise.

And mental illness exists in the same way physical illness exists. Nothing offensive about acknowledging that. Not all mental illness is a trauma response.

Mental health causes overeating in the same way it causes undereating. No one has mental illnesses. They have trauma responses. To use stigma is a bit low and offensive of you.

Pregnancy is a choice so one could say they put themselves in that situation so why the need to accommodate?

The barrier isn’t her mental health though, it’s her physical ability. You can dress it up as much as you like but it does no one any favours to pretend that everyone who is overweight has a mental health issue, and it’s actually really offensive to people who do have mental illness.

If she was working in construction and there was no reasonable way to support her doing a very manual job, that's fine

If it's an office job where 90% of the time is sat at computers, doing work there but 10% of the time might include them having to shift the stationary order into the cupboard, bring up the new delivery of tea and coffee from downstairs with no lift and taking the bin bags out on a Friday then it is reasonable to expect the disabled/pregnant/overweight colleague to do those tasks.

Which is reasonable. How is it not? It isnt a significant part at all. If you read the OP it says it is sometimes part of the job. It isnt that they are doing nothing, they would then be doing some other task that needs doing. Working in a different way.

What would happen with a pregnant employee? Would that be not considered reasonable? I imagine it would be because pregnancy is supported and mental health not.

Reasonable adjustments have to be just that - reasonable.

Adjustments that mean her colleagues have to do significant parts of her job aren't reasonable.

Employers don't have to keep staff who - even with reasonable adjustments - can't meet their contractual obligations.

And if mental health is the root cause then this is discrimination as reasonable adjustments are needed.

I agree.

If OP's colleague is too fat to meet her contractual obligations, neither the employer, nor fatty should expect her colleagues to pick up the slack.

This is indeed a difficult one. First off I don't believe morbid obesity is a lifestyle choice, it is without doubt linked to a MH issue. There is a big difference between being overweight because you love food and being morbidly obese, if she cannot do basic lifting and moving then she also will have great difficulty in her personal life. So regardless of the cause she is already suffering.

All that said, if she is unable to do her job then that's a problem. (I typed 'pull her weight' then deleted, funny though) my job is somewhat similar in that there is a physical element to it and if I was hiring I wouldn't hire someone obese. I'm overweight myself and struggle all the time with this but am also active and capable. I had a period where I struggled with one particular thing due to weight gain and lack of flexibility so I spoke to my manager explaining why it took me so long and started doing specific exercises at home so I could get back on track, it tool a few weeks. I haven't lost much weight but am fitter and am very conscious of keeping myself this way so I can continue to do my job properly. I think a solution is rather than give one element of the job to colleagues, this woman needs to be moved to a different role entirely, same as you would to accommodate a disability or long term injury. Either way it's a management problem not OPs so I think OP needs to raise it directly with management.

The thread is not complaining about someone because of their size. The thread is complaining about someone who doesn’t do their fair share at work. When that means others have to do more than their fair share of difficult jobs, it is reasonable to complain about it.

OPs point is valid and shouldn’t be dismissed just because some people are sensitive about how much they weigh.

Is her eating normal? Nope so it is disordered. It is abnormal.

So how do people get frail and skinny - undereating, an eating disorder called anorexia.

People not eating properly, overeating to excess or undereating - both are eating disorders and many have trauma as a reason.

I know someone who was raped and then overate and said she feared being raped again so wanted to make herself look different so it was less likely as he rapist still lived 2 streets away. It made her feel safer that he would not do it again. Her trauma was the cause of that.

You know we all love a fatty-bashing thread. Especially us fatties. Hey fatty bom-bom!

What kind of physical tasks? Can you elaborate on the job you do? Just trying to get an idea

Pull the other one, she's a greedy cow. That's how people get fat!

Eating disorders are a medical condition. She has an eating disorder.

I've been seeing sponsored threads for MedExpress/Promoted WLI for at least the last fortnight on the boards. I don't even go anywhere near the diet boards (my natural habitat is AIBU, Chat and the Litter Tray, mostly).

Excellent tactical mention of it being entirely her fault with no mitigating circumstances right in the first post, as well. She LAUGHS about eating too much and having LITERALLY NO excuse. Maybe OP should have gone all the way and had her whisper that she did it on purpose to stop getting the harder tasks

I know about mental health issues, and addiction (the substance is largely irrelevant), and if any colleague was individual is aware their addiction is seriously affecting their health, life, work and colleagues, they’ve got to be one seriously selfish fecker to sit around and joke about it. If she was unable to do part of her job because she got drunk at 3pm every day, or because she kept nipping out for a ciggy, her colleagues wouldn’t be expected to pick up the slack and “be kind”, would they? Why doesn’t that extend to her stuffing her face?

Wow, is this woman not embarrassed that everyone else has to do her share?

I would fake an injury and get your colleagues to do the same so that management are forced to look at what they’re doing.

It doesn’t matter whether the person just loves food or is miserable eating too much food, overeating to the point of obesity or to the point of health issues, is an eating disorder or food addiction. The person doesn’t need to recognise that in themselves.

Ask yourself why a person might just love food? Because food is tasty and foods or alcohol that a person likes that make them obese are addictive.

Yeah, it really makes you regret giving any input at all. Just another shit stirrer.

This site is a mess.

A marketing agreement with WLI company - Do they?!

What I’ve noticed about the WLI topics on here is if anyone is saying anything negative about them or even questioning anything they get angrily rounded upon.

Or there was a thread where a woman said she wanted advice for weight loss that didn’t include WLI and half the thread was people trying to convince her to take them or attacking her for saying she wouldn’t.

I haven’t said anything either way as I’m neither for or against them, although I personally wouldn’t use them - but some peoples defensiveness of them on MN seems odd.

Looks like the OP was a plopper, hasn’t been back to discuss.Leads me to think this was an agenda and I’ve been played. AGAIN.

i’m overweight and this isn’t fair. If she can’t do the job then HR and management should be supporting her BUT it shouldn’t fall on OP to pick up the slack