Texas Hospital Hiring Policy–New Employees With BMI Higher Than 35 Won’t Be Hired–But Once Hired You Can Pack on the Pounds

This one of those bizarre stories and the legality of it appears to be all over the place as if you read further with one legal interpretation that says if one is denied a job because they are “morbidly obese” and not just “fat” then you might have a case.  I would guess there might be some morbidly obese folks that might be willing to try it out and see.  The hospital also says if an applicant is obese, they will help you lose the weight to quality for a job there.

I am assuming the help offered by the hospital is not a “free lap band” surgical procedure:) 
How far will all of this go one has to wonder.  From the screenshot below it appears that fat people are now “distracting” according to this hospital?   BD
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A Texas hospital has reportedly instituted a hiring policy barring potential employees who are obese -- and officials at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tell FoxNews.com that the practice is not explicitly discriminatory.

The policy, which was instituted last year at the Citizens Medical Center in Victoria, requires potential employees to have a body mass index of less than 35. That equates to roughly 210 pounds for someone who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall or 245 pounds for someone who is 5 feet, 10 inches, the Texas Tribune reports.

"While our laws may not cover people who are overweight but not morbidly obese, the entire thrust of EEOC's mission is to have people considered for employment based on their qualifications and experience -- not on irrelevant factors," Lisser's email concluded.

Michigan is the only state that bans weight discrimination, although six cities -- Birmingham, N.Y.; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and Urbana, Ill. -- have also enacted weight discrimination laws. Madison first enacted its laws banning discrimination based on weight or personal appearance on March 13, 1975.

Lance Lunford, a spokesman for the Texas Hospital Association, said hospitals have the right to utilize policies to ensure the best business.

Key continued: "However, if a morbidly obese was denied employment, I would expect they would have a successful case … So we have this weird situation where you can discriminated against if you're fat, but not if you're morbidly obese."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/05/eeoc-texas-hospital-that-bars-obese-workers-not-necessarily-discriminatory/