That fattist discrimination is allowed in the workplace?

[SortedwishIwas]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/24/fattist-discrimination-should-be-outlawed-in-the-workplace-says/

Just read this article and it says it is not illegal to discriminate against overweight people.

Yet fat people are protected only if they can prove they are also disabled

from the article. So it is seems to be ok to discriminate against someone who is fat but not if they are fat and disabled?

This is worrying though but a separate issue from the same article

New forecasts show that obesity will soon be more common than being a normal weight.The figures from Cancer Research UK show on current trends, almost three in four adults will be overweight or obese by 2035.

Helena she had a lovely figure. Thank you.

"True but society and the workplace judges WOMEN differently"

This is closer to the truth of it.

PrettyLittleGuinea - how is PCOS a disability? I'd be curious to know, having a diagnosis myself.

People should not be discriminated against because they are fat. However, many long term conditions could be prevented if people managed their weight more. Surely if being overweight becomes a protected characteristic, it implies that it is something that no one should ever question or try to change?

I disagree that fat people are greedy or lazy, there are so many complex factors (cultural, physical and psychological) that could contribute to uncontrollable weight gain. Our society actually needs a total shift in health management so that adults are better equipped to keep themselves healthy and motivated. We aren't taught to look after ourselves properly or take responsibility for our health - this isn't just in relation to weight!

Definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010. You're disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. (gov.uk)

If your PCOS causes that, then you have a disability. I wouldn't have thought PCOS itself would cause substantial negative effect on normal daily activities, but some of the linked things (excess weight, diabetes) might.

Funnily enough there's nothing in that description above that would disqualify severe obesity from being considered a disability.

The excess weight and diabetes risks associated with PCOS are very preventable. I would not say PCOS causes those things per se, however if you do not manage the condition then these things may occur.

I suppose this could be picked apart forever and become very complex. I would not class PCOS itself as a disability however. Many women have PCOS and never realise.

It's not on par having long term illnesses like COPD or heart failure causing weakness and breathlessness that stops you being able to walk a distance or climb stairs. But then again, smoking can cause those conditions so maybe I'm going against my earlier point here.

The more I think about this the more confusing it gets.

Obesity should never be a protected characteristic.

Anyone who is obese because of a disability is already protected in law.

Anyone who is just fat shouldn't expect additional legal protection. That's a lifestyle choice, unlike being male/female, gay, disabled, etc.

Before anyone jumps on me and points out pregnancy is a PC, I suppose that is a choice too but is rightly a protected characteristic as we still all need to procreate... we don't need to be fat if there are no medical reasons causing it!

floggingmolly I am a 28 year old disabled person. I was a very large but still healthy weight pre-disability. I saw 4 gps who took 5 years to realise how disabled I was. Each one said 'you're just fat. I won't help you until you lose alot of weight'. One gp even went so far as to tell me to crash diet and/or starve. The disability caused the weight gain not vice versa. Had I been a slim, pretty little thing I would have been treated better, like a human. That's how we're discriminated against.

You're right despite there being warnings about vthe obesity crisis, it still happened. That's because so many people many of them on here STILL do not understand that it is NOT simply about shutting you're gob or getting off the sofa. Something every Fat person has been told by someone who has never experienced weight issues.
Its not down to one simple thing.
Until people understand that its not greed, laziness or a lack of willpower , the nastiness will continue.
Its not a disability in the same way that alcoholism, drug addition or any other addiction or eating disorder is not.
And like others have said this is because the outcome can be changed with help.
But as before we lack respect for others now and if there was more then we wouldn't need any discrimination acts.

I sort of know what you mean - it should be protected in that they shouldn't be able to turn you down for a job and pick a similarly qualified skinny person, but if it's going to actually impact your ability then obviously they should be allowed to hire based on that.

slim doesnt always equal healthy tho

im overweight (have a underactive thyroid but greedy with food) but last time i was sick was over 2 years ago
compared to a slim colleague of mine, she watches what she eats, goes to the gym etc and shes ill all the time, always moaning about being cold etc has a permament cold from october til march

Just because someone is big doesnt mean theyre shit at their job, or will be off sick more. My size has nothing to do with my work ethic. The judginess on here is unbelievable, I just thank heavens my boss saw past my size to the person I am when interviewing me. The idea that skinny equals brilliant at their job is ludicrous, size has fa to do with it. I know plenty of larger women in my field who are fantastic at their jobs. I think sometimes women are their own worst enemies.

Although in certain professions I understand it - police, firefighter, prisom service - all examples of where you NEED to be fit. Teacher, office worker, retail - not so much

slim doesnt always equal healthy tho. im overweight (have a underactive thyroid but greedy with food) but last time i was sick was over 2 years ago
compared to a slim colleague of mine, she watches what she eats, goes to the gym etc and shes ill all the time, always moaning about being cold etc has a permament cold from october til march

I am slim and rarely absent from work but my obese colleague is absent regularly with all sorts of illnesses.

I work in HR for a company where the jobs are very physical. There was an overweight employee who was quite simply unable to cope with the physical demands of the job and as a result her performance suffered. Had she had a disability, we would have made reasonable adjustments but she didn't have one so we were perfectly entitled to manage her on performance.

As it was, she left of her own volition but I am comfortable with the approach we took as her weight affected her ability to do the job which had implications for the success of the business.

Had she been in an office based role sitting in a chair all day long, it wouldn't have made a jot of difference that she was overweight.

remember folks, 'bullying' can happen to anyone - fat, short, ugly, red haired, wearing glasses, spits when they speak... bullying is being selected for negative treatment designed to humiliate and demean. At work, bullying is separate from harassment, as harassment IS linked to the protected characteristics.

So if I yell at someone, micro manage, and humiliate someone because they're John and I just think they're useless, that's bullying. If I do the same to John because he's gay (and he can prove that's why I'm picking on him) then that's harassment.

So at work we are, to a degree, protected from being bullied for being fat, under the criteria attached to bullying in the workplace's grievance policy.

There is a correlation between obesity and absence

academic.oup.com/occmed/article/60/5/362/1382790/Obesity-and-sickness-absence-results-from-the-CHAP

www.noo.org.uk/LA/tackling/workplaces

Awwlook -- "Yes absolutely disabled people have no choice. No one would argue with that. However addiction is not a choice, either."

Are you saying that drug addicts and alcoholics should be included in the legally "protected class"? Wow... let's hope you are in the minority.

Ollie -- "Obesity is a condition people need treatment for- not something to be protected for the sake of people's feelings."

Yes! Ollie. Complete agree.

Chipsandpeas -- "slim doesnt always equal healthy tho"
Wrong. False argument.

Real comparison is -- Slim is always equal to healthier in the SAME person.

In other words, you chips would be healthier longer if you were not overweight. And your colleague would have even more health issues if she were overweight.

You need to find a new argument to justify obesity. This one is dumb.

I'm lost on what the OP's argument even is. 75% of people will be obese so that's ok then....? but until there's that level of 'safety in numbers' we want protection as if we're disabled?

Nah. YABU to think its ok to be perfectly healthy but then eat yourself into an unhealthy state and then be pandered to or seek preferential treatment.

No miss my sister was healthier when she was a little overweight. Years of anaroxia changed that.

Not every overweight person is that way because they eat too much
No, because some people's bodies have found a way to create energy from nothing and even though they take in less energy than they expend, their bodies still get fatter and fatter... . If you are fat, you are getting more energy in than what you expend. This is true whatever disability you have or whatever medication you are on. This is why you see fat people in wheelchairs and slim people in wheelchairs; fat people on x medication and slim people on the same medication, etc.

If you're a size 10 you are not fat
OK, so instead of a measure used by e.g. the World Health Organisation (=BMI), let's use... UK dress sizes to determine who is fat.

The other is a clock watcher. Good at what they do but do the minimum of it and seek to offload onto others rather than be proactive and get things done. The hard and efficient worker is the obese, non exercising one
Manicinsomniac, that's probably because the exercising, healthy-eating slim deputy head has a life , too. Seriously, I think there is research that obese people have a poorer social life, fewer hobbies, go out less, etc. The slim deputy head is obviously keen to get away from the school and do other things with their life. The obese one has nothing else in their life. (And, btw, workaholism is not praiseworthy regardless of weight.)

@floggingmolly 'race card' Wow, actual wow. What a fucking wonderful person you must be.

Catlady ............just ignore People cant see what others body shapes are on here.

Your sister is ill.............thanks to being judged on her body shape and being expected to change her body shape Losing weight is one thing (although it sounds to me like she didnt need to do that either) but expecting someone to change their body shape is ludicrous.

I intend to stay as i am now As a size 14 ive already lost a lot of weight. I wouldnt tolerate a lover or a friend who made even one derogatory comment.

Do you have a link Iona.

Catlady, you are falling prey to yet another fallacy of the art of debate -- talking in extremes.

Anorexia is an EXTREME form of body image control. It is a disease. I am talking about "slim", which is a NORMAL state, NOT a disease.

Put it another way == an argument against obesity in humans is NOT an argument FOR anorexia. It is an argument for NORMAL body weight.