Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 179: Obesity Effects on the Workforce & Economy with Tim Dall, Healthcare Economist
Employment Law Now: Volume 3 Episode 45- Part 1 of 2 Back From The Summer Hiatus
Polsinelli Podcast - What Employers Need to Know About Obesity in the Workplace
Most employers in Texas are likely aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA), which is similar to the ADA, protect most job applicants and employees from...more
In recent years, federal courts have increasingly split over whether obesity in and of itself is a qualifying medical condition under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC and some courts have concluded that obesity...more
In recent years, a number of federal courts have drawn differing conclusions with regard to whether obesity is a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While some courts have reached this conclusion,...more
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has issued another ruling regarding an obesity-related disability accommodation request under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Earlier this past summer, we reported on another...more
The Seventh Circuit joins the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits in holding that such a refusal would not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. In Shell v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, No. 19-1030, the...more
In a departure from the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other state anti-discrimination laws, the Washington Supreme Court (7-2) recently ruled that obesity “always” qualifies as an impairment under the...more
On August 20, 2019, the Ninth Circuit dodged answering the question of whether morbid obesity is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In Valtierra v. Medtronic Inc., No. 17-15282, the Ninth Circuit affirmed...more
There is debate among employers as to whether or not being morbidly obese is considered an ADA-covered disability. Do you have to accommodate limitations that may be caused by obesity by treating it as a disability?...more
In an issue of first impression in the Seventh Circuit, the Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment in favor of the employer dismissing the Plaintiff’s claim that obesity qualified as a disability under the Americans with...more
The state of Washington has weighed in on the debate as to whether obesity is a disability under disability discrimination laws. In Taylor v. Burlington Northern Railroad Holdings Inc., a case that wound its way through the...more
On June 12, 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held in Richardson v. Chicago Transit Authority that extreme obesity only qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if it was caused by an...more
The Washington Supreme Court yesterday ruled, for the first time in Washington, that obesity can be a disabling condition that protects workers from discrimination and requires accommodation. Employee, Casey Taylor, sued...more
Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act poses difficult challenges for employers, and one of the toughest issues to come along in recent years is how to deal with obese employees. Thanks to a new decision by the...more
Obesity has been recognized as a disease by the American Medical Association, National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization. Does that mean obesity qualifies as a physical impairment under the Americans...more
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 substantially expanded the definition of protected disabled persons under federal anti-discrimination laws. In most circumstances, employers do not spend much time arguing that the plaintiff is...more
Regulators, judges and academics have all been vexed over the issue of whether obesity, not caused by an underlying physiological condition, is a disability covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”)....more
A federal Court of Appeals just ruled that extreme obesity not caused by an underlying physiological disorder or condition does not qualify as an impairment under the ADA. Under the 7th Circuit’s June 12 ruling, proof that...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled this week that severe obesity is not a "disability" within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act unless it is caused by a physiological disorder....more
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel for the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey affirmed a 2018 trial court decision granting summary judgment against a self-described obese former bus driver for...more
As with so many ADA questions, “it depends.” However, a pair of cases pending before the 7th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals (covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) could provide further guidance. ...more
We know that the ADAAA (Amendments Act of 2008) substantially altered the landscape for review of claims asserting a disability. But are employees still required to show some sort of disorder or impairment to state a claim?...more
On Sept. 17, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals certified to the Washington Supreme Court the question of whether obesity qualifies as an “impairment” and thus a “disability” under the state’s anti-discrimination law....more
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 40 percent of U.S. adults are obese. The CDC uses the Body Mass Index (BMI) as the benchmark for obesity. BMI is a calculation based on height,...more
I recently did a blog about obesity as a disability under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act. I concluded that the condition of obesity did not automatically constitute a disability although courts could find that an employer...more
A recent decision from the State of California has held that obesity is considered a protected disability under California law if the condition of obesity is caused by a psychological condition. This gave me pause to wonder...more