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
As previewed in a prior alert, discrimination based on height or weight is now prohibited in New York City. On May 26, Mayor Eric Adams signed into law the bill that the New York City Council passed on May 11, which adds a...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects most job applicants and employees from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation based on disability. While employers are likely familiar with many of the physical and...more
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
Employers everywhere should be well-versed in the main federal civil rights laws, offering protection to your employees and applicants from workplace discrimination based on age, disability, sex, gender, religion, race, and...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
I recently had occasion to write about cities and states revisiting their laws related to obesity as a protected characteristic and the potential for liability for disability discrimination on the basis of perceived obesity....more
On October 29, 2019, the Seventh Circuit held that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (“BNSF”) did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by refusing to hire a job applicant due to his obesity. The...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
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in employment against persons who are disabled, as well as those regarded as disabled. Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals joined other federal courts...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
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 Taylor v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, the Washington Supreme Court recently held that obesity is always an “impairment” under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (“WLAD”). ...more
The Washington State Supreme Court recently held obesity qualifies as an impairment under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD). The decision runs counter to other court decisions across the country finding obesity...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
Washington’s highest court has ruled that obesity is always an “impairment” under Washington’s Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), regardless of whether obesity is related to some other medical condition. ...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 held for the first time yesterday that obesity is a protected class under state anti-discrimination law (Taylor v. Burlington Northern Railroad Holdings, Inc.). This decision runs counter to...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals in the Seventh Circuit has recently decided a case involving an extremely obese bus driver and denied his claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101–12213, as...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
On June 12, 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the case of Richardson v. Chicago Transit Authority, which was the appeal of a dismissal of the case after the lower court found that obesity is not...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
On April 4, 2019, the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court reaffirmed that obesity, standing alone, is not a protected characteristic under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), affirming summary...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