Hospital Won't Hire Obese Workers

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2012

Is morbid obesity actually a disability, legally? For example, can you apply for disability payments based solely on the fact that you are morbidly obese?

I'm not 100% sure, but I really doubt it. You would have to show that you are somehow unable to perform the duties of a job because of your obesity, and a person who can't perform the duties of their job isn't going to be hired anyway. But if you are morbidly obese but capable of working, you wouldn't qualify for disability. But you also wouldn't be hired by this hospital.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 11, 2012

As a not-svelte person, my first reaction to this announcement was negative. However, it is perfectly legal. FLSA regulations allow an employer to use any "bona fide occupational qualifications" (BOQs) to determine job eligibility. Functional job requirements are always spelled out as part of the job description. Functional requirements of bedside nursing jobs include lifting, walking, bending, standing, etc..... and these are simply not possible with a very high BMI. As long as the requirements are tied to BOQs and applied to everyone who is hired - it doesn't seem to violate FLSA.

BFOQs apply to circumstances where selection or rejection of a candidate would otherwise violate discrimination laws. The classic example is: in order to be a sperm donor, you have to be a male...because barring a scientific anomaly, there's no other way about it. In this case, BFOQ would protect the employer for refusing to hire a woman for the role of sperm donor.

Another example are actors. If the role to be portrayed is a teenage black female, then BFOQ would block someone from filing an age-discrimiation or race-discrimination lawsuit...well, it wouldn't block the lawsuit since anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason, but it means that technically the casting director wasn't discriminating against applicants due to age, race, sex, etc. If the role is a 16-year old black female, a 50-year old white male really can't make it work.

Unfortunately, I don't think obesity fits anywhere in the world of BFOQ as obesity is not a protected class.

Lauryen828 · Apr 11, 2012

ok i amconsidered obese but i have no health problems, i am active and guess what, iwork harder than many of my co workers that are not considered obese. everyonedoes not fit into a perfect category. give a person a chance, the"obese" nurse you turn down may be the one that could make adifference in patient care on your floor. i can certainly understand if theirweight interfered with patient care, but if they are capable in performingtheir job duties, then what is the problem?

spectrabrite, LVN · Apr 11, 2012

This is great, how can a pt trust an obese nurse when the nurse is giving health and nutrition pt education. These nurses just make the hospital and facility look bad.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 11, 2012

This is great, how can a pt trust an obese nurse when the nurse is giving health and nutrition pt education. These nurses just make the hospital and facility look bad.

Hope you brought your flame suit with you. Posters here dont take too kindly to those words.

spectrabrite, LVN · Apr 11, 2012

I stand behind my words, I could care less about the cry babies I may upset.

Patients want to see a staff that resembles good health. How does an overweight nurse, or doctor, or any other member of the staff resemble good health. With that, how is a member of the staff of a medical facility that does not outwardly resemble good health able to portray the messages and education effectively. They cant, the patients will see the person and a lot of the time ignore the message, the nurse is teaching them about there nutrition, or blood pressure or cholesterol.

Hope you brought your flame suit with you. Posters here dont take too kindly to those words.

Vespertinas · Apr 11, 2012

Ah, the slippery slope argument, that while logical is also improbable, and based on extreme fear. The idea of including all for fear of excluding a few is very problematic.

When you're making laws for a large group of people (read: entire population of US) I think it's more effective to follow and enforce binary rules. Allowing for shades of grey, while ideal, is likely more confounding to the original point. And in law, precedent IS a slippery slope.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2012

I'm not really surprised that this is starting to happen. It's the same debate that occurs over hospitals refusing to hire smokers. It's less healthy, employees have more absences, higher health insurance costs, poor reflection of the hospital. A BMI of 35 is also very high. Healthy is 18.5-25. Even the professional athlete example referenced in the article would still qualify for employment.
I also think that there might be something to the fact that employees who are severely overweight are physically less able to perform the same duties as someone who is not overweight. Although this generalization shouldn't be applied to all workers, but on a case by case basis. But it's often easier for the hospital to say they aren't going to hire anyone who is overweight, rather than taking the time to evaluate each employee. Just like not all smokers have health problems, but some do. Of course, employees that are not overweight and don't smoke can have health problems as well.

The thing is, the hospital is not even making the argument that the obese workers have more absences, higher health insurance costs, etc.

This is the reason they have instituted this policy:

but in an interview with the Tribune, Brown defended the hospital’s policy as one that caters to its patients. “The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance,” he said. “We have the ability as an employer to characterize our process and to have a policy that says what’s best for our business and for our patients."

All the people who applaud this policy better make dang sure that they are very handsome or classically pretty, because if this hospital wants to meet their patients' expectations regarding physical beauty, they just may not measure up and could well be the next to go. What's to stop them? Their patients have "expectations regarding personal appearance."

As someone who has been thin most of my life, I think this policy is really crossing a line.

DFWgal · Apr 11, 2012

Exactly. This is not about healthcare professionals not leading by example, unable to perform duties, or costing more in terms of insurance, etc. This is about appearence. I love people that support policies like this. I wonder if they are all svelty Angelina Jolie-ish so sure that they'll never suffer any kind of discrimination.

I wouldn't be touched by this rule in case I decided to apply there, but this doesn't mean that in the future another of their creative policies wouldn't affect me. What if other hospitals follow this institution's example? A bunch of people would be automatically out of job? And then we see threads here asking why in healthcare or nursing there is no much support among peers...

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Apr 11, 2012

I live in a "right to work" state. It's my understanding that I can be fired for any reason and I can quit for any reason. So if I'm to fat for my employer (I am severely obese) they can just up and fire me. It's bad practice, but it happens, I just didn't think employers would fire nurses just for being fat.

barbyann · Apr 11, 2012

If the hospital really cared about their fat nurses then they would make them work 14 hours a day, call them in for mandatory overtime and give them no breaks to eat. (I feel the weight melting off already)

elkpark · Apr 11, 2012

If the hospital really cared about their fat nurses then they would make them work 14 hours a day, call them in for mandatory overtime and give them no breaks to eat. (I feel the weight melting off already)

You mean they're not doing that now?? Where do I sign up?! :lol2: