ObesityHelp

We obese employees are already being discriminated against for promotions, etc. I believe this will just cause more rejection!

this is a comment i found on the article that kills me. I am extremely angered and hurt by this comment. How dare someone say that obesity is easily controlled by a person. if it was then please tell me what im doing wrong ive been on a "diet" since i was 14..please someone help me with this thought.. ("pipster wrote: Obesity is easily controlled by an individual. This ruling is offensive to everyone who will now have their premiums raised due to overeating and lack of exercise by one individual. This ruling is unjust.")

Unfortunately, discrimination against the obese is the last socially accepted bias. I have just had vsg (on 11/16/09)and know the pain of being obese. If obesity is easily controlled by an individual, then he or she has never been obese and makes the comment either from ignorance or just to annoy. That is like saying those who have bullimia or anorexia can always control it. Employers who hire the physically fit need to be prepared to endure some lost productivity. People need to take breaks and have lunch during the day. A lot of people I know do not and that is when health starts to suffer, but the employers productivity numbers look fantastic. There are federal laws to prevent or address abuse such as not taking breaks, how about a federal law to prevent or address discrimination against the obese??

And what about the health care costs caused by smokers - not to mention the lost productivity due to them taking numerous smoke breaks throughout the day - why pick on obese people, who often do much better work because they don't socialize all day, due to being ostracized for their appearance. The selfish and crass individual who commented about the "unjust ruling" should be sentenced to being force-fed like a goose until she weighs 500 pounds. Then she can see how it feels to be discriminated against and insulted because of your size - see how she likes it!

missjessicap: Don't be offended or hurt, if you can manage not to be. "pipster" is a pipsqueak uninformed ass. I wonder if the pip thinks that non-obese people who indulge in extreme sports should be discriminated against - everyone else's premimums may go up due to rock climbing and one unfortunate fall. (Not that I wish that on rock climbers of course. I have compassion. The pit, er, pip, lacks it.)

What a disheartening judgement. We are already discriminated against, and have little recourse because where is the proof? But to now have it a law? Its so sad that qualifications include the bosses image of beauty, as opposed to capability and education.

Although I find this offensive, I have lived with this mind thought from people who do not understand because they have never walked in our shoes. We all know that people don't hold doors open for us, speak to us, make eye contact, promote us, think we are lazy and out of control. This is nothing new. Leave it to the laws of our beatiful land to make it more difficult for us. I am waiting for the day when the medical professionals, as a whole, realize that obesity is not a life style choice but rather a gentic linked disorder. Does it make me mad? Oh, yes it does! Can we really change it? Not all at once but maybe little by little.

ya i am over weoght and i wprked in a nurseing home for 17 years and then all off a sudden i started to have effects of havein sleep apnea one of my cna had found me sleeping why sitting and feeding a patent and then by the time she went a reported me i had woke up and i never new i had fallin alseep ....and with all my other health issues they had suspended me and i had was fired because of my health.. so they let me go... it urt me so so much that i was not going to be helping the elderly any more .. in 17 years i learned so much from them and from this day i miss my job so much not helping them back then i weighted 200 pounds but now since i stoped working i have gained 100 pounds

The injuries they are talking about occured as a workers' compensation claim. If someone is injured on the job and became addicted to pain med's then the employer's insurance company usually ends up paying for the rehab to help the injured worker. If a person gains significant weight due to their injury and inability to be mobile, then having weight loss surgery would be just as applicable. Rehab for a 30 day stay is actually more than these surgeries. Obesity is a disease that should be managed and recoqnized just like diabetes or alcoholism. You don't hear someone asking about what diseases you may have in a job interview, do you?

I do agree that this is going to just make things worse!!! I have been on a weight roller coaster all my life and know first hand about weight discrimination. I was able to get hire on the spot when I was 160 pounds not skinny but average. When I get 195 - 235 I would never get hired on the spot. So

I have been passed over for countless jobs due to my size. I have had superior experience and education, and someone skinnier and many cases without my credentials gets the job. I can't help but think that if it were my ethnicity everyone would be up in arms. It's the same with rude comments. No one in their right mind would tell an ethnically derogatory joke in public; yet they have no problem being out right defamatory to an obese person.

How about the discrimination of being told you were hired because you being overweight wouldn't distract your male co-workers.

I thought it was me all these years. Ive quit 2 jobs because a supervising position has come up and given to other person because they were skinny even though they were not as qualified as me. SUX

I am in the middle of trying to keep my temp position for the reason my employer keeps asking if I can physically do my position. I have had this question given to me several times to find out that it was given to a less qualified thinner person. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact it does happen still today. I also have it from a very good source at my temp company that the employer is going to start eliminating next year on the size of people and their physical appearance.

I am so tired of the double standards between skinny and obese folks. Even folks who are overweight but not obese are rude. People take offense when they hear a racial slur but think it's funny when a fat person is harressed.

What I did not see addressed in these comments was the fact that it seems to me it would cost the insurance companies less to just pay for the weight loss surgery. If the person continues to be overweight, the insurance will cover the diabetes, heart disease and joint issues that go along with obesity. Wouldn't the surgery be cheaper in the long run? Many companies now cover smoking cessation programs and medications with the thought that it's cheaper than paying for the health problems associated with smoking. Why not obesity?

I have fought this battle myself, and I became obese to the point of disability, which worsened an autoimmune disorder I have (lupus w/fibromyalgia). I got sick to the point where I could not do a 16 hour a week telephone survey job. I had WLS (duodenal switch)in 2009 and lost 245 pounds to date. Now, my other ailments are more manageable, because more medicines work, and the other ailments, high blood pressure and sleep apnea are cured. At my highest weight, the only thing that would halfway work was prednisone, which helped to increase my weight even more. I still cannot hold down a full time job at this point, but I am working on retraining for a profession that will accomodate my conditions, so that I can work. I have not been employed in the profession for which I went to college for 16 years, and even though I'm closer to retirement age now than the ususal age for starting a new career, I will *not* give up! Obesity is an awful disease, especially when other ailments impact one's health. That said, losing weight is not a "magic bullet" for optimal health. When you are obese, even ailments that are not weight-related are blamedd on your weight. I lost weight, and I'm still sick. Better, but not well enough to rejoin the workforce. It sucks!