‘Mean Girls’ Party Barred Server Due to Weight, Suit Alleges

Maybe I’m crazy but I never get a paywall on The Daily Beast. I think it might just be because of my adblocker?

A person can control their religion, and that's illegal to discriminate against. A person can also control whether or not they're in a union, for example, and retaliation from an employer based on that is illegal. "Is it something that can't be controlled" isn't the test for whether or not something is considered illegal discrimination in employment.

Which, also, none of us know why he's overweight and it's frankly irrelevant. There could be any number of reasons for it that aren't controllable or aren't currently under control, including mental health conditions and hormonal issues. He shouldn't need to give employers his medical records before they decide whether or not to comply with a request to exclude him and only him based on his appearance.

It's legal in approx 49 of the US States. So not likely a case here. Being fat isn't a protected class.

I think it's a bit of a stretch. The businesses reasoning was that the severe weight of the staff member would interfere with performing the job, claiming it was "a full house" and that it wouldn't be possible to walk around properly in the venue. That can easily be formalised as an OH&S concern.

As long as they did it in a professional manner, I don't think that's promoting fatphobia, which is being claimed, even though I'm pretty sure obesity is not a protected class. The fact that part of the article tries to support the case by saying the film contains fat jokes shows there's not a lot of weight to the case.

Maybe they could go for workplace bullying, but that won't work for an isolated incident.

I was actually talking to a lawyer friend of mine about this yesterday. Not this case, just is being overweight a protected class.

Apparently it isn't, it's illegal to discriminate based on ability which might be limited due to your weight depending on how overweight the individual was but the weight itself is not a protected class. It comes up sometimes when people try to do things like sue theme parks because they can't ride the roller coasters. My friend always has to tell them that they don't have a case.

It gets complicated because sometimes somebody cannot be accommodated because they are in a wheelchair or mobility scooter but that in that wheelchair because of their weight rather than any other disability, at which point technically it would be legal to discriminate against them. Although the defense lawyer would have to prove that there was no other mobility issue other than that caused by weight.

Apparently none of this has any precedent though, so it's basically just legal interpretation rather than actual law.

Weight is often something that people can't control. There are many reasons why someone can be overweight or obese.