What HR leaders need to know about the NYC bill banning weight discrimination

New York City is expected to pass a proposed bill next month that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of weight.

To some, it might come as a surprise that with the exceptions of Michigan and Washington, it’s within a company’s legal right to dismiss an employee or pass over a job candidate for being overweight. Antidiscrimination protections currently safeguard employees regarding race, gender, religion, and disability. But in many states, weight and height are not protected—something body-positivity advocates across the U.S. are working to rectify.

The New York City bill has garnered the support of over half of City Council members, and New Jersey and Massachusetts are also considering similar bills. “I would be surprised if anyone were opposing this legislation,” Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the nonprofit business group Partnership for New York City, told Bloomberg last year. 

Weight discrimination significantly affects women in the workplace. A 2014 study from Vanderbilt University found that women considered overweight made less money than colleagues of both genders regarded as average weight. They were also more likely to work in lower-paying and physically demanding jobs. 

“Weight stigma occurs at virtually every stage of the employment cycle—from getting hired to getting fired,” Rebecca Puhl, a professor who studies weight-based bullying, bias, and discrimination at the University of Connecticut, told me in an email. “Our research shows that about a third of adults who experience weight stigma report that it comes from an employer, and more than half report this stigma happening from coworkers.”

Experimental studies in psychology have also found that participants who act as hiring managers are less likely to employ higher-weight applicants, even when they have better qualifications than thinner applicants. 

For HR leaders, Puhl says, there’s a clear opportunity to address weight stigma through education and training programs and communicate that the company will not condone discrimination. 

“When it comes to workplace diversity training or antiharassment training, we don’t typically see body weight or body size included. Topics related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and disability are often the focus of this training content,” Puhl tells Fortune. “But weight stigma isn’t on the radar and is often absent.”

Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton

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