Texas hospital bars obese workers

[Potemkin]

Texas hospital reportedly bars obese workers -- and it might be legal

By Joshua Rhett Miller

Published April 05, 2012

| FoxNews.com

Not everything should be bigger in Texas.

A Texas hospital has reportedly instituted a hiring policy barring potential employees who are obese -- and officials at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tell FoxNews.com that the practice is not explicitly discriminatory.

The policy, which was instituted last year at the Citizens Medical Center in Victoria, requires potential employees to have a body mass index of less than 35. That equates to roughly 210 pounds for someone who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall or 245 pounds for someone who is 5 feet, 10 inches, the Texas Tribune reports.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/05...ntcmp=trending

[D. Gale]

So who's going to be the first obese person to gain another 50 or 60 pounds so they can be classified as "morbidly obese" and get disability AND a job?

[TBonz]

With the rate of obesity in the US, companies who do this crap may find that they have a rather small employee pool from which to choose.

[Potemkin]

Originally Posted by TBonz

With the rate of obesity in the US, companies who do this crap may find that they have a rather small employee pool from which to choose.

A relative of mine just graduated from LVN school.

25 people matriculated. 5 of them, including the relative have full time positions.

The heady days of quitting a nursing job and starting somewhere else that day with a raise (1990s are gone).

I am not saying obese nurses can't do a good job, but we have to remember, obesity is not a protected class at the Federal and State levels. (There are a few small cities where it is.)

For the record,


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class

Race - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
Color - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
Religion - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
National origin - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
Age (40 and over) - Federal: Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Sex - Federal: Equal Pay Act of 1963 & Civil Rights Act of 1964
Familial status (Housing, cannot discriminate for having children, exception for senior housing)
Disability status - Federal: Vocational Rehabilitation and Other Rehabilitation Services of 1973 & Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Veteran status - Federal Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974
Genetic information - Federal: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act