Law and Science: Too Fat to Work?

ORCID

Margaret Ciccolella - 0000-0001-9853-4649; J. Mark Van Ness: 0000-0001-5902-8735

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Exercise Medicine

Department

Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences Department

ISSN

2378-4083

Volume

7

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

9

Publication Date

4-1-2022

Abstract

This article will review cases in which a plaintiff was suspended, fired, or not hired because of excessive body weight, adiposity, or fat mass. Three issues will be discussed from legal and physiological perspectives: (1) excessive weight or fat as a disability; (2) whether the disability is self-induced or has an underlying physiological causation; and (3) Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ) for jobs relevant to weight. These issues conflate law and science and are directly applicable to the exercise physiologist who is asked to resolve the competing interests of the employer and employee in a legal matter in a case there the employee is told that s/he is too fat to work.

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