New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a bill on Friday that bans discrimination based on height and weight. “It shouldn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh,” Adams said. “When you’re looking for a job, or you’re out on our town, or trying to get some form of accommodation or apartment to rent, you should not be treated differently.”
The law, which was sponsored by City Councilman Shaun Abreu, will go into effect in six months and adds to the growing list of personal characteristics that employers, landlords, and business owners cannot use to discriminate in hiring, firing, and accommodations including discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, and gender.
Tigress Osborn, who heads the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said Friday “We can’t legislate attitudes, but we can do everything that’s in our power to ensure that people are treated equally,” she said during the bill signing in City Hall’s Blue Room.
Discrimination based on weight is already prohibited in Washington D.C., Michigan and the state of Washington. Similar legislation is under consideration in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Abreu, a Democrat who represents parts of Upper Manhattan, called the city’s new law a “monumental advancement for civil rights” and said he hopes other lawmakers take notice.
“While our law are only now catching up to our culture, it is a victory that I hope will cause more cities, states and one day the federal government to follow suit,” he said. “No one should have to live with the silent burden of size discrimination.”
There isn’t much “silent” about a 7-foot-tall man or a 400-lb woman walking down the street or walking into a store or office to apply for a job. And just how “fat,” “tall,” or “short” does a person have to be to qualify for being discriminated against?
This law is a litigious nightmare waiting to happen. There are apparently some vague references to “exceptions” in the law for employers where consideration of height or weight was “reasonably necessary” for the “normal operations” of a job that any decent civil rights lawyer would be able to blow right through.
The bill had the support of activists like “Fat Fab Feminist” Victoria Abraham, who testified to the city council in support of the legislation earlier this year.
Miss Abraham, who campaigns for civil rights for overweight people, testified to the city council to help inform policymaking.
She told ABC7NY: ‘In most places in the United States, you can get fired for being fat and have no protection at all, which is crazy because this is a very fat country.’
The Bill received widespread support and passed 44-5 in the council on Thursday, but faced criticism from some.
Councilman Borelli told the New York Times: ‘I’m overweight but I’m not a victim. No-one should feel bad for me except my struggling shirt buttons.’
I can almost guarantee you that very few people in the U.S. are fired solely and exclusively for being morbidly obese. Most fat people are fired for the exact same reason anyone else is fired: they’re not doing their job. And some fat people are almost certainly fired for not showing up to work in the first place.
Obesity is known to increase the risk of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. So it is perhaps not surprising that obese individuals would require more sick leave, especially in the form of long-term absences. However, the study also found obesity increased the risk for short-term absences the time someone might take off if he or she had the flu.
I feel so left out and alone. Am I the only American left who isn’t a “victim” of “discrimination” of some kind?
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