New Study: Obesity Discrimination More Prevalent Than Other Forms of Bias?
Discrimination against overweight employees is more common than discrimination based on disability, religion, national origin and sexual orientation and only slightly less common than race, gender and age discrimination, according to a new study by Yale University researchers.
The study also found that women are twice as likely as men to face weight discrimination. Researchers found that women typically start experiencing discrimination when their body mass index (BMI) reaches 27 or higher, while men typically don’t experience discrimination unless their BMI is 35 or higher.
“These results show the need to treat weight discrimination as a legitimate form of prejudice, comparable to other characteristics like race or gender that already receive legal protection,” said Rebecca Puhl, lead researcher.
Federal law doesn’t prohibit weight discrimination. Only one state (Michigan) and a few cities (e.g., San Francisco, Washington, D.C.) consider weight a protected class, although a bill pending in Massachusetts could add that state to the list.
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