This individual is a high hazard, and the Federal Government is butting in where they have no business being. Maybe Michelle will straighten this man out and get him to eat “healthy”. Weighing 600 is a danger to all other employees.
How in the world is someone being overweight a danger to all other employees? Fear he might fall over on one of them? Seriously. If a person can do the job and they were hired to do the job, then let them do the darn job.
Now on the other hand if his weight limited his ability to do his job, then there is obviously a problem. If not, let the man work. Too many people in his place would just go on disability because they’re obese. At least this man is in the workplace and not just sitting on his behind at home eating pizza and watching TV.
What was the reason for the firing? Without knowing the reason it is hard to say if the firing was justified or not. Someone can go from a good employee to a poor employee in a short time. Possibly a major compnay rule was broken. As for being replaced by a thinner individual; it seems far fetched to have to hire a replacement employee that is the same height, weight, gender, hair color and nationalty in order to avoid a law suit.
It looks to me that he has a case. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if the company laid out terms of employment that the employee could have met but were not complied with. The definition of Disabilility and Disease becomes too broad when they become excuses for people who make poor choices.
You assume he’s overweight because of choices he made. A lot of people are morbidly obese because they have medical conditions that cause their weight problems. Thyroid problems come to mind, but I’m not a doctor.
Since there wasn’t much info in this article, my first thought was this. Guy was fired unknown reasons and makes up story about being canned for being too fat. He had been employed with the company for 15 years. I doubt his obesity was a recent occurrence, so the company had plenty of time to fire him for being too fat. Look forward to hearing the rest of this one.
If everyone could look at it from the companies position, that would be nice. What if this guy had a heart attack and died while working due to his being morbidly obese? Would the family sue the company for putting him in a stressful job? If he was this overweight, why didn’t he have bypass surgery to lose the weight? He is a health hazard big time and the company will probably get stuck with this.
That it’s alright to discriminate against someone regardless of their performance ratings? Would mandatory genetic screening be required next–since you may, may be at risk for cancer, diabetes, or hypertension?
We have anti-discrimination laws for a reason. This is a perfect example of such.
I bet the HR person gets fired if they haven’t been yet. What company in their right mind would ever use weight as an excuse? Now if this was 50 years ago, maybe, but today? Idiots!!
The suit claims Kratz was “qualified to perform the essential functions” of his position
Could he perform the non-essential functions? The video shows this person NOT at 680 pounds. 680 pounds is a lot of weight for a person to carry around, and everything becomes a struggle at that point. Could he really do his job at 680 pounds?
I also like the comment that they replaced him with a non-obese employee. So if they went out and found an obese person to replace him, there would not be a lawsuit?
If this guy could do his job, why was he fired? I mean if they really are firing him only because he was over weight, then yes, by all means, they should be held responsible. But he had been at that company a rather long time. I wondered what finally made the company say enough is enough….
It all comes down to this. This day in age you must clearly define what can and cannot get you fired if you are an employer. This is something that we are seeing in the amount of suits for discharge, due to unclear polices. A lot of places have policies that are written that include clauses such as “for management to determine” But that still doesn’t mean you can discriminate.
All in all if the did fire him due to his weight then I hope they get what’s coming to them. Being a little “fluffy” myself I can only imagine what this guy goes through every day to just get ready to go to work….
Could this be a case where they are looking to get him off thier Health Insurance? He has got to be a driving force on their rate up factor. With OBama Care rolling out, that has got to multiply his effect on the over all cost.
This individual is a high hazard, and the Federal Government is butting in where they have no business being. Maybe Michelle will straighten this man out and get him to eat “healthy”. Weighing 600 is a danger to all other employees.
How in the world is someone being overweight a danger to all other employees? Fear he might fall over on one of them? Seriously. If a person can do the job and they were hired to do the job, then let them do the darn job.
Now on the other hand if his weight limited his ability to do his job, then there is obviously a problem. If not, let the man work. Too many people in his place would just go on disability because they’re obese. At least this man is in the workplace and not just sitting on his behind at home eating pizza and watching TV.
How do you know the guy was a ‘high hazard’? Do you work there? Just wondering.
What was the reason for the firing? Without knowing the reason it is hard to say if the firing was justified or not. Someone can go from a good employee to a poor employee in a short time. Possibly a major compnay rule was broken. As for being replaced by a thinner individual; it seems far fetched to have to hire a replacement employee that is the same height, weight, gender, hair color and nationalty in order to avoid a law suit.
Lisa,
I agree with you 100%. Even more far fetched to think you could even find another 600 lb individual with the skills to do the job!!!
Found out a little more..
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Worker-fired-for-too-much-weight-2193407.php
More info:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/government-sues-bae-systems-firing-600-lb-employee/story?id=14623887
It looks to me that he has a case. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if the company laid out terms of employment that the employee could have met but were not complied with. The definition of Disabilility and Disease becomes too broad when they become excuses for people who make poor choices.
You assume he’s overweight because of choices he made. A lot of people are morbidly obese because they have medical conditions that cause their weight problems. Thyroid problems come to mind, but I’m not a doctor.
Since he has lost 200 pounds since he’s been fired – I’d say poor choices is probably a good assumption.
From the newpaper article it appears that the company is going to get hit.
Since there wasn’t much info in this article, my first thought was this. Guy was fired unknown reasons and makes up story about being canned for being too fat. He had been employed with the company for 15 years. I doubt his obesity was a recent occurrence, so the company had plenty of time to fire him for being too fat. Look forward to hearing the rest of this one.
If everyone could look at it from the companies position, that would be nice. What if this guy had a heart attack and died while working due to his being morbidly obese? Would the family sue the company for putting him in a stressful job? If he was this overweight, why didn’t he have bypass surgery to lose the weight? He is a health hazard big time and the company will probably get stuck with this.
What perspective would that be?
That it’s alright to discriminate against someone regardless of their performance ratings? Would mandatory genetic screening be required next–since you may, may be at risk for cancer, diabetes, or hypertension?
We have anti-discrimination laws for a reason. This is a perfect example of such.
Exactly! Well said!
I bet the HR person gets fired if they haven’t been yet. What company in their right mind would ever use weight as an excuse? Now if this was 50 years ago, maybe, but today? Idiots!!
The company (unfortunately for its insurer) is going to get horsewhipped by the civil justice system. Their just deserts, so to speak.
The suit claims Kratz was “qualified to perform the essential functions” of his position
Could he perform the non-essential functions? The video shows this person NOT at 680 pounds. 680 pounds is a lot of weight for a person to carry around, and everything becomes a struggle at that point. Could he really do his job at 680 pounds?
I also like the comment that they replaced him with a non-obese employee. So if they went out and found an obese person to replace him, there would not be a lawsuit?
If this guy could do his job, why was he fired? I mean if they really are firing him only because he was over weight, then yes, by all means, they should be held responsible. But he had been at that company a rather long time. I wondered what finally made the company say enough is enough….
It all comes down to this. This day in age you must clearly define what can and cannot get you fired if you are an employer. This is something that we are seeing in the amount of suits for discharge, due to unclear polices. A lot of places have policies that are written that include clauses such as “for management to determine” But that still doesn’t mean you can discriminate.
All in all if the did fire him due to his weight then I hope they get what’s coming to them. Being a little “fluffy” myself I can only imagine what this guy goes through every day to just get ready to go to work….
It says he was a ‘materials handler.’ I’m assuming that by ‘materials’ they mean ‘cheeseburgers.’
Could this be a case where they are looking to get him off thier Health Insurance? He has got to be a driving force on their rate up factor. With OBama Care rolling out, that has got to multiply his effect on the over all cost.