Weight a Minute!
HR professionals are routinely called upon to make impartial decisions directly affecting the company, but they also have many fine lines they must be careful to not overstep in the process.
One issue many employers are faced with is discrimination based on an employee’s (or prospective employee’s) weight. “Qualified people who are heavy routinely are misjudged by employers who contend ‘if they can't take care of their weight, then they probably can't do the job.’”
“Tamara Brown, a nurse practitioner at the Bellin Health Bariatric Center in Green Bay, estimates that 5 to 10 percent of the overweight patients she sees at the clinic will comment - unsolicited - that they have been deprived of opportunities in the workplace.”
Misconceptions such as this can leave managers treading in hot water if personal biases are interpreted as discrimination. “…if an employer in the state ‘treats someone as disabled or if the employee believes that the company is treating him or her as disabled, that individual may fall within the protection of the law’ - specifically, the Americans with Disabilities Act or the state's Fair Employment Act.”
Read more by Ellen Zettel for Marketplace Magazine, with excerpts from The H.S. Group’s Human Resource Consultant, Nancy Ledvina
Posted by Shelly Paul, Career Management Coordinator, The H.S. Group
One issue many employers are faced with is discrimination based on an employee’s (or prospective employee’s) weight. “Qualified people who are heavy routinely are misjudged by employers who contend ‘if they can't take care of their weight, then they probably can't do the job.’”
“Tamara Brown, a nurse practitioner at the Bellin Health Bariatric Center in Green Bay, estimates that 5 to 10 percent of the overweight patients she sees at the clinic will comment - unsolicited - that they have been deprived of opportunities in the workplace.”
Misconceptions such as this can leave managers treading in hot water if personal biases are interpreted as discrimination. “…if an employer in the state ‘treats someone as disabled or if the employee believes that the company is treating him or her as disabled, that individual may fall within the protection of the law’ - specifically, the Americans with Disabilities Act or the state's Fair Employment Act.”
Read more by Ellen Zettel for Marketplace Magazine, with excerpts from The H.S. Group’s Human Resource Consultant, Nancy Ledvina
Posted by Shelly Paul, Career Management Coordinator, The H.S. Group
posted by The H.S. Group at
12:51 PM
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