Can obesity qualify as a disability? The folks at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission say yes.
The EEOC has filed suit against Resources for Human Development (RHD), a national non-profit human services organization, claiming it fired a child-care worker because she was obese.
The agency claims the firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Did employer ‘perceive’ worker was disabled?
The case involves Lisa Harrison, who worked with young children of mothers undergoing treatment for addiction in an RHD-run facility in suburban New Orleans.
Harrison was fired because RHD perceived Harrison as being substantially limited in a number of major life activities, including walking, because of her weight, the EEOC claims. But the agency says Harrison was able to perform all of the essential functions of her position.
Before the EEOC filed suit, Harrison died. Her private interests will be represented in the lawsuit by her estate.
Plowing new ground?
Up to this point, many courts have ruled that obesity does not fall into the category of disability under the ADA.
But with the passage of the ADA Amendments Act, the definition of disability was substantially widened.
Given the fact the suit’s being brought on behalf of an employee who’s no longer living — a rarity, to say the least — it’s pretty clear the EEOC intends to take an official stand that under current law, obesity and ADA can be linked.
The lawsuit is EEOC v. Resources for Human Development, U.S. Dist. Crt., E.D. LA, No. 2:10-cv-03322.
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