Overweight employee discrimination?

Question

Are young employees (<30) more likely to not get hired than someone over 30 that is overweight. I have a friend who is an HR worker saying that employees that are overweight and young, under 30, are more likely to get discriminated against do to the fact that young people are supposed to energetic, acitve and go-getters hence they shouldn't be overwieght. That could point to them being lazy and not ambitious. What do you think on this?

Answer 1

its proven that good looking and tall men are more likely to succeed in life.

Answer 2

Hmmm. This is the first time I've heard of this. It's sad that something like this would happen, but I think I can understand why some potential employers/HR workers would think like that. When they hire someone, they are thinking about the best person for the job...that is directly connected to the well-being of the company. They want someone who is (like you said) energetic, active, etc. The truth of the matter is we live in a society that judges/sterotypes/makes assumptions based on appearances. While the overweight person may be the best and brightest, all the HR person sees (at least initially) is an obese applicant. Beyond judging on job performance, the HR person might also think about the person's home life: i.e. is this person an emotional eater?...do they have depression/other issues that lead them to over eat?....will they bring these problems to work?...will this person be absent a lot due to health issues/doctor's appointments?...etc.
The case could be that all the aforementioned points are not applicable. But if the employer asked those questions to find out, that would *totally* be discrimination - esp. if the HR person doesn't ask 'skinny' people those questions. Hmmmm.

Answer 3

Although I believe that the HR worker's logic is flawed, I can see why one might think that way.

I believe that the most interesting part of this conundrum is the fact that HR personnel are openly making important hiring decisions based on unscientific and undocumented biases.

The HR worker needs to be trained to work within some documented and transparent process boundaries used to determine the best candidate for a particular job.

On the other hand, young workers competing in a tight job market must realize that indiscriminate and foolish discrimination exists, so they need to attempt to present themselves in the best light possible. This presentation must include appropriate appearance, neutral body language and pleasant conversational skills in addition to meeting the technical and skill requirements of the job.

It's a competitive world. One must consider the nefarious side of human interaction when making life decisions.

In this sometimes shallow world, weight can make the difference in being hired or not.

Answer 4

Not really an answer to the OP but a rebuttal to some of the posters.

Fat does NOT mean unhealthy. Most of the sickest people I have ever known have been thin people. Yes fat people have their own diseases and maladies that skinny people don't usually have to worry about, however, look in any hospitals long term care wards, see how many fat people there are to skinny people.

It is estimated that 45% of the USA's women are a size 16 or bigger. Yes! A size 16 or bigger!!!! Yet why if 45% are this size are we continually barraged with size 1 and 2 women in advertising and fashion? Simple, latent paedophilia. Many fashion designers have admitted to designing their clothes to fit young teenage boys, so that's why models have to have the body to match, to make the clothes fit properly. Advertising companies use young thin women because many men still fantasize about young girls.

As you can see, fat is not as unhealthy as you may think. Maybe you need to stop judging people on their weight, and start wondering why things are the way they are!

Answer 5

It's possible, it's not so much discriminating as it's questioning one's character. If a person is chubby enough to cause concern then it makes a hiring employer wonder what their work ethic is like. It's not exactly a fair question when compared with skinny workers, but it's glaringly obvious.

But the bigger thing is that overweight people are more likely to be rejected for positions because they can and likely will cost the company more money because of the drain they'll put on their healthcare costs for reasons such as heart conditions, diabetes, etc etc.

Answer 6

It would be hard to prove that discrimination was due to the person's weight or any other physical attribute.

If the job is customer-facing, the person's appearance could negatively influence customer acceptance. If the job is in the back office or a warehouse, it's probably less an issue, though the compensation won't be very good either.

Answer 7

It sounds right to me. If people really understood the amount of discrimination that goes on they would scream. I used to work in a large hospital - in the HR department. Some of the things that people wouldn't get hired for include tattoos, piercings, hair length or color, height, weight, nationality, religion, marital status, number of children, where they lived, jewelry, clothing, their vehicle - you name it. It was so subjective as to who was hired. It seemed to be personal as to the person doing the hiring and had little to do with qualifications.

Answer 8

i understand for a reality I had a chum that became in nursing college, and she or he graduate interior the right 10% of her type. even as she went for a job interview she had to take a actual. She did not bypass because she became 50 pounds overweight. they provide her ninety days to drop some pounds as a way to carry her grant for a job. for sure she did not lose 50 pounds in ninety days, so she became no longer employed. She went to a special health center and they were satisfied to provide her a job yet they instructed her that the coverage organisation would not cover her till she lost a minimum of 25 pounds interior 6 months. They employed her as a non everlasting worker, and went she lost 30 pounds a three hundred and sixty 5 days later, they replaced her status to finish time everlasting worker.

Answer 9

Appearance can affect work performance. That is not a discrimination. That is preference. In other words, I would want a person who does thing fast and efficient than a person does things slow.

Over-weighed people have disadvantages because they may spend more time to go to one location to another. That affect work related performance. It has nothing to do with laziness or not being ambitious.

I don't think you can make a discrimintate case here

Answer 10

I think it could happen, but that doesn't make it right. I am overweight and have not had a problem finding jobs. People are overweight for a variety of reasons, not just because they are lazy. If an employer is too stupid to realize it, then I wouldn't want to work for them anyway!

Answer 11

As an over all opinion, probably. Even though the laws are out there, no one has to hire anyone even if they are qualified. An overweight person of any age would run into this.