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

[Twigggy]

I work in a job where some of the tasks involve lifting carrying and moving things. It is not all heavy labour but everyone is expected to take turns so the workload is fair.

One of my colleagues has been with the company for years. Over time she has gained a lot of weight. She is now morbidly obese and is very open about the fact that she eats too much and does not have any medical condition causing it. She even jokes about it sometimes.

The issue is that as her weight has increased her ability to do the physical parts of the job has decreased. Management have quietly stopped assigning her any of the lifting or carrying tasks. That means the rest of us have to do more to cover her share which can be exhausting especially on busy days.

A few of us have raised this with our manager and HR but both said there is nothing they can do and that we need to be sensitive. Essentially we were told to just keep doing the extra work so we do not upset her.

No one has said anything to her directly because it feels like a sensitive topic and I do not want to be accused of being discriminatory. But it is frustrating that the burden is falling on the rest of us for something that is not due to illness or injury and that she openly admits is her own lifestyle choice.

I am starting to feel resentful. AIBU for thinking this is not fair?

demanding or even just expecting ‘fairness’ at work is a fools errand

This.

At school, there is an expectation that the teacher is 'fair' and treats all the pupils equally, making sure all have a turn, all get recognition, etc.
This does not translate to the workplace.

At work, your employment relationship is with your employer, not colleagues or teammates. If you are doing what is in your contract (written, or verbal in the case of reasonable tasks as instructed by your manager), and your employer is paying you what was agreed, that is all you can expect.

If you find yourself being routinely taken advantage of, and surrounded by lazy people, then leave the job. But if it is just one person getting different treatment, just ignore it.

MN hates fat people 😒

She is now morbidly obese and is very open about the fact that she eats too much and does not have any medical condition causing it. She even jokes about it sometimes.

Perhaps her obesity IS the medical condition. There doesn’t need to be anything ‘causing’ it. If you do a bit of research around the subject of obesity, you might understand that the underlying causes are complex. It’s not simply a question of mind over matter. It’s a physiological problem involving hunger and satiety hormones where the body has reached a tipping point and it is very difficult to put the gears into reverse. Would your job situation be any better if there was an underlying medical condition? The poor woman jokes about it out of embarrassment. She’s getting a dig in at herself before someone else does because she knows what you’re all thinking.

But it's NOT.

management (you know, the people in charge) have assigned her different tasks THAT is her job! Which she is doing.

its only the OP deciding everyone must be assigned the same tasks.

Yes it is. The only reason they CANT assign her the tasks is because she's to fat to to them!!

And what a surprise... OP hasn't been back

It's irrelevant why she's being assigned more of x task. Management are assigning the workload (as is their job) it's not up to OP to decide they all need to do the same amount of each task. If she can't do the tasks assigned to her then she needs to speak to management about the amount of x task being too much for her to cope with not a 'not fair whinge'. It's not her place to decide how much if x task everyone should be doing!

Goady, Twiggy. Won't be back.

If any other colleague with a medical condition which affected their work was not taking available steps to improve, control or mitigate their condition, insofar as it affected their ability to do their work or impacted on their colleagues’ workload, do you think that would be okay? If a colleague with diabetes refused to take their insulin and other people had to deal with the consequences, or a colleague with bipolar didn’t feel they liked their antipsychotics and had violent outbursts, would that be okay? Why is it okay for somebody to be fat, to choose to harm themselves, to joke about it, and for other people to have to not mention the affect it has on them?

It does not matter why. It's up to management who is given each task. 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️.

This is none of your business. If your colleagues manager felt she was unable to fulfil her role then she would need to performance manage that. Not you. If your JD states that you have to do this task then you have to do it as assigned. Regardless of frequency. If your manager has their reasons for not addressing this with your colleague. They may prefer she does other work than physical lifting, then there’s nothing you can or should do about it. And that includes bitching with other colleagues trying to gather support for your opinion.

OP, if you and your colleagues all work under the same job description, I would investigate the possibility of workplace discrimination if the job description is not being applied equally and fairly, and any of you can demonstrate a protected characteristic such as age…

That was predictable. No surprise with the goady username. Still the fat bashing continues, some people are vile. Some just lack the ability to understand basic things, like management being in charge- if you don't like it, work fo yourself. Or elsewhere.

Of all the stuff that is deleted on MN it continues to astound me that shit like this is left to stand. OP won't be back anyway but this thread should definitely go.

Of course it matters why. Being fat isn't a disability. Her colleague needs to put down her fork and do her fair share. Management CANT assign her a task as shes too fat and therefor she cant do her job and should be sacked.

well if they are doing it out of the (ha) kindness of their hearts and not because someone with the authority to do so has told them to, why aren't they taking it to management or HR?

Its basically poor management. The manager/HR do not want to tackle this sensitive situation with her. Its not on and they need to grow a backbone. I think you all need to call a meeting with hr and complain as one united

Really whether you are reasonable to feel resentful depends on the direct impact on you and your colleagues from the reassignment of tasks, and whether your co-worker has been allocated some of the non-physical tasks that you were doing previously, so that everyone still does a fair share of work.
If the extra physical labour has been re-assigned evenly across a team of five so everyone does a little bit extra every day, and it isn't an H&S issue, I'd just drop it. You may stay there up to retirement and they may make similar accommodations for you as you age, which would be pragmatic and allow you to carry on working.
I think you need to decide what you would want to achieve by giving this any more head-space. There are various things you can ask management to consider, but you need to be clear what you're asking them to do, or they'll just ignore the whole thing and hope it goes away.

How many other ways can it be explained to you?

it's not about the other colleagues weight/size!

It's up to management to allocate the tasks, it's up to them who does x task. It's NOT up to OP to decide all colleagues must do the same amount of every task.

if she's not happy with the amount if x task she is assigned & can't cope she needs to discuss that with them, maybe they can tell her she needs to get fitter to cope as she seems to think it's reasonable to tell her colleague that.

they may have information which the OP does not have access to.

Having been extremely overweight myself, I find this very unfair! Why should others have to shoulder more of the work because the colleague has put on weight (just like me, I overate, no real medical issues, I was just addicted to food/eating)? The colleague has said she overeats, no other reason. As she’s said this, the OP can only assume she’s telling the truth. It isn’t fair on others that someone who was employed on a level playing field has put them in this position.

Her balance will be dodgy, mine was, I used to fall over because if I lost my balance, I couldn’t stop myself falling/save myself, so whilst being overweight doesn’t stop you being able to lift something heavy, it is tricky to then maintain balance, particularly if steps or the use of a ladder are involved.

I think its you that clearly cant grasp it. OP is doing her colleagues work as she is too fat!! it has everything to do with her weight! Its not about not coping its about taking on her fat colleagues share because she cant do her job properly.

She IS doing HER job. Her tasks assigned by management. It's up to management to decide how the work is assigned not the OP

No it's you that can't grasp it. I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

They'd be pulled in for a meeting and it would be addressed during performance reviews. In the case of COPD, or the permanent limb damage, I've known people to be managed out, or agree to leave. If there can't be reasonable adjustments made. The reasonable adjustments seem to have been put onto the other staff members and that should be group addressed.