7 November 2005

According to the National Audit office one in five UK adults are dangerously overweight. Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development has shown that overweight staff may be vulnerable in the workplace. The CIPD found that overweight staff are at greater risk from bullying, harassment and victimisation in the workplace. Overweight people may also be disadvantaged in obtaining employment and in gaining promotion when in work because of negative stereotypes associated with being overweight. Feedback given to the CIPD characterised overweight people as sicker, lazier, lacking in willpower and unable to perform certain tasks. A recent Personnel Today survey of 2,000 personnel officers found most preferred to offer jobs to workers of ‘normal weight’.

There is no UK discrimination law that expressly prohibits discrimination against overweight people, however protection may apply under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). Some overweight or obese people may have health problems which amount to a disability within the meaning of the act. Obesity is not an excluded condition under the DDA, if an overweight employee is disabled an employer must make reasonable adjustments in the workplace and not discriminate against them on the grounds of their disability.

There may be health and safety issues for overweight employees in some businesses. There may be capability issues too, can an employee do their job if they are obese? You may recall the case of Graeme Ivison who was dismissed from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant. Mr Ivison, who weighed about 30 stone, had been told that he was not capable of performing his duties adequately when his weight increased. His employer was reported as saying "His contract was terminated because he was too overweight to complete tasks essential to his role". Those tasks included measuring the radioactivity count in areas that required wearing protective PVC clothing, Mr Ivison reportedly couldn’t fit through the turnstiles and could not fit into a decontamination suit. The outcome of the case is unreported.

Employers should be alert to weight related issues and managers should be aware of the risk of disability claims. Recruitment and promotion should be on merit.

DDA changes in 2005 and 2006

From 5 December 2005:

• Extend DDA to cover HIV, cancer and MS for the point of diagnosis
• End the requirement that a mental illness must be clinically well-recognised to amount to an impairment

The definition of disability under the DDA will be widened so that people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV will be deemed to be disabled from the point of diagnosis.

People with mental impairments will no longer have to show that their impairment is a clinically well-recognised illness. However, claimants will still have to show that their impairment has a long term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities for their impairment to amount to a disability. This may enable people suffering with stress and anxiety to gain protection under the DDA.

From 4 December 2006 a number of other employment and non-employment related changes to the DDA come into force, including a duty on public authorities to promote equality. This will, from December 2006, require public bodies to carry out their functions with ‘due regard’ to the need to, eliminate discrimination against and harassment of disabled people, promote greater equality for disabled people, promote positive attitudes to disabled people; and, encourage disabled people to participate in public life.