A few years ago, Susan House of Chicago applied for a union education position in California. Her qualifications were top-notch.
House had worked as a welder for over 10 years, helping to organize a chapter of the same union at her previous job. During that time, she’d earned a bachelor’s degree in English, specializing in the communications and writing skills the new position required. The union’s international office recommended her for the job, and the man in charge of the new position sent her a plane ticket so he could meet her in person.
That’s when everything changed.
“As soon as I walked into the room, that man looked at me, immediately looked away and never met my eyes during the interview,” House said. He asked her a series of questions, then rejected her application, telling one of House’s friends she’d been too forward in the interview and that he “couldn’t work with a person like that.” House said she’s sure the “like that” was aimed, not at her personality, but at her body size.
“I’m fat,” House said simply. But the implications of her failed job interview are anything but simple. Although over half of the people in the United States weigh above their ideal weights and 3 to 5 percent, or at least eight million people, weigh at least 100 pounds more, job discrimination against people of size is common, subtle and generally ignored.
A survey by the National Association for Fat Acceptance (www.naafa.org), based in Sacramento, reports that 40 percent of fat men and 60 percent of fat women stated that they had not been hired for a job because of their weight, and 30 percent of fat respondents believed they had been denied a promotion for the same reason.
In August, John Cawley, a professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, published “Body Weight and Women’s Labor Market Outcomes.” His paper, available at www.ssrn.com, says that white women who are overweight by 65 pounds earn 7 percent less than their thinner colleagues.
“In absolute value,” Cawley said, “this is equivalent to the wage effect of roughly one year of education, two years of job tenure or three years of work experience.”
Cawley’s research found no similar impact on the wages of African-American or Hispanic women, a fact Sondra Solovay of Berkeley, Calif., the author of “Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination,” said relates to how low their wages are in the first place.
Despite its prevalence, weight discrimination is difficult to prove and has little support within the country’s legal system. The Council on Size and Weight Discrimination,based in Mt. Marion, N.Y., reports that some cases have been filed under Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says that all persons have a right to employment free from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, when weight standards have been applied differently to different protected classes.
Some courts have extended the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Only the state of Michigan and three cities–Washington, Santa Cruz, Calif., and San Francisco–have laws specifically dealing with weight issues.
“On the employment front, the courts have been very discouraging,” said Miriam Berg, president of the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination. “We had a call from a man who wanted to sue his employer, a public utility, who said he had to stop working because he weighed too much for their ladders. We advised him not to sue, but to ask for a heavier-duty ladder as an accommodation under the ADA.”
The situation is especially “sad and unfortunate” in Illinois, said Rafael Molinary, an attorney in private practice who spent seven years with the state’s Department of Human Rights, because people here must claim their weight causes a “major psychological or physiological condition” to file a claim under state Civil Rights laws. “This is counter to the way members of the fat acceptance movement see themselves,” Molinary said.
“Disability is a dis-empowering word,” agreed Solovay. “We are not the problem. We can do the job. The problem is the building without an elevator and the employer who can’t get beyond his own stereotypes of what a fat person is.”
Fred Ball, a New York executive coach and career planner and the co-author of “Impact Hiring: The Secrets of Hiring a Superstar” (Prentice Hall Press, $26), said recruiters are looking for job candidates with “passion, energy, motivation and a keen interest in the position. The mistaken assumptions they make about people of size is that [they] lack energy and drive, have low self-confidence and don’t convey a professional appearance.”
When going into a job interview, a fat person should be aware of these stereotypes and find subtle ways to dispel them. Chris Englin, the owner of Big Wave Recruiting in Seattle, said, “I’m a large person and when I want to make a competent appearance I dress one notch better than the situation requires. Large job candidates should be conservatively dressed and look polished and confident.”
John Doyle, a partner in the Chicago office of executive recruiters Ray & Berndtson, suggested that a large job candidate demonstrate his or her energy level by “weaving information into the interview about his outside interests, the organizations he belongs to, and his exercise routine.” Unless the interviewer brings it up, “don’t refer to your weight,” he advised.
Chicago NAAFA member Kathleen Madigan said she makes a point of bringing up her stamina level during job interviews. “I mention that I go to the gym three times a week and work out to exercise tapes on the other days. I feel if you don’t address this issue directly, it can cost you a job.”
Madigan’s approach worked well during her last interview, because she’s now a computer operator for Advocate Healthcare, working in Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn under a “wonderfully supportive supervisor who is only interested in your ability to do your job,” she said.
Others are not as fortunate. Lisa Breisch, a clinical psychotherapist who teaches courses in “Body Image and the Larger Woman” at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, said she recently talked to a woman whose supervisor left diet ads on her desk.
Phyllis Warr, president of the Chicago Chapter of NAAFA, said another woman who had gained a lot of weight after an injury caused her to be less active, called the NAAFA hotline to complain about a supervisor who looked at her lunch every day and approved or disapproved of what she was eating. Eventually, the woman lost her job.
“Her employers said [it] was downsizing, but the woman felt it was size discrimination,” Warr said. “We don’t provide legal services but I said if she decided to file a lawsuit, we’d be glad to give moral support. I never heard from her again.”
Solovay said too many fat people avoid fighting job discrimination because they blame themselves for the problem. “After years of being denied promotions, you begin to internalize the prejudices of others, and think you’re not worth standing up for,” she said.
Solovay, who has a law degree, suggested they share their concerns and feelings with fellow employees. “I’ve met a lot of thin people who are outraged that someone can be denied a job because of what they weigh and will go along when a fat person confronts her supervisor,” she said.
If discussions within the workplace fail, Solovay suggested finding an attorney who knows something about discrimination law.
“Employers suffer, too,” Solovay said, “because they’re missing out on some great workers.”
