Too fat for McDonalds?

[jegs2]

A man has sued McDonalds for refusing to hire him on grounds that he is morbidly obese. He weighs over 400 pounds:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84417,00.html

[Col. Crackpot]

fucking stupid waste of time. tell Mc Porko to take some responsibility for his actions and lay off bacon. but noooooo, fuck personal responsibility, let me go and sue some corporation for wheelbarrows full of money! secondly, for this case to even succeed as a civil rights case he would have to proove that his obesity was the reason he wasn't hired.

[Stravo]

As long as the guy can actually function with that weight then I don't see a problem, but McD's staff tends to stay on their feet most of the day, I'm not suire that a man of that size can stay on their feet for as long a time as an 8 hour shift.

Other than that why not? Except of course, McD's would not like to have a walking advertisement of what their food does to people to be behind the counter which I'm sure is the true reason he was not hired.

[Durandal]

A man has sued McDonalds for refusing to hire him on grounds that he is morbidly obese. He weighs over 400 pounds:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84417,00.html

That depends. Would McDonald's be paying for his insurance costs?

[phongn]

A man has sued McDonalds for refusing to hire him on grounds that he is morbidly obese. He weighs over 400 pounds:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84417,00.html

That depends. Would McDonald's be paying for his insurance costs?

They probably would, since IIRC they do have a medical plan.

[Montcalm]

McDonald policy:Its the client who should be fat not the employee.

[Durandal]

They probably would, since IIRC they do have a medical plan.

Then their reluctance to hire a man who would incure extremely high medical costs is understandable.

[Yogi]

As long as he can do the job, no reason not to hire him.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

I'm not sure that he's be able to do his job with that weight, but there might be another reason why he wasn't hired if it wasn't being morbidly obese.

[Zaia]

They probably would, since IIRC they do have a medical plan.

Then their reluctance to hire a man who would incure extremely high medical costs is understandable.

Bullshit, that's discrimination. Have you seen the movie "Philadelphia?"

[Col. Crackpot]

They probably would, since IIRC they do have a medical plan.

Then their reluctance to hire a man who would incure extremely high medical costs is understandable.

Bullshit, that's discrimination. Have you seen the movie "Philadelphia?"

discrimination has to be proven. is there concrete proof that the reason why he did not get the job is solely because of his weight? For all we know this could just be some guy with a grudge and a seedy lawyer.

[Zaia]

Bullshit, that's discrimination. Have you seen the movie "Philadelphia?"

discrimination has to be proven. is there concrete proof that the reason why he did not get the job is solely because of his weight? For all we know this could just be some guy with a grudge and a seedy lawyer.

You're absolutely right. However, if the only reason they guy wasn't offered a job was because he's morbidly obese and his medical will be too much for McD's to cover (he'd have to have a medical bill in the billions of dollars for them to not be able to afford it, with all the profits they make), that's fucking discrimination. If you legally can't fire someone (or not hire, as the case may be) because they've got AIDS or cancer or something, you sure as hell can't do the exact same thing because of someone's size.

[Peregrin Toker]

Normally, this is discrimination of the worst sort, but this time I can see their intentions. After all, a grotesquely fat man is not good advertisement for McDonalds. Anyone can understand that.

Still, I don't think that's reason enough for rejecting him. As a side note, the fat man in question still has the opportunity to get hired at other fast-food outlets such as Burger King, or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

[Durandal]

Still, I don't think that's reason enough for rejecting him. As a side note, the fat man in question still has the opportunity to get hired at other fast-food outlets such as Burger King, or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Indeed, and he'd get better free meals as well.

Aside from that, the radical politically correct brigade has instilled into people's minds that "discrimination equals bad." This is not necessarily true. Unjustified discrimination is bad. However, let's take Zaia's AIDS example. Let's say that an AIDS patient is applying for a job as a construction worker. Keep in mind that construction is a very physical business, and there are often little cuts and abrasions that most workers will just let go unchecked until the end of the day.

Would you hire an AIDS patient for this kind of job? I certainly would not. The AIDS patient is an objectively verifiable risk to my workforce, since this is a physical job. Furthermore, I'd have to pay for his health insurance, and since he's more susceptible to disease, he is more likely to take sick days. There are plenty of perfectly valid, practical reasons not to hire an AIDS patient for this kind of job.

Then again, there could be something about the fat guy we just don't know. Maybe he was just an asshole during the interview process. I don't see any proof that the major reason he wasn't hired was because of his weight.

[phongn]

Then again, there could be something about the fat guy we just don't know. Maybe he was just an asshole during the interview process. I don't see any proof that the major reason he wasn't hired was because of his weight.

In addition, this is a McDonald's. They probably have dozens of applicants who are of lower risk than him.

[phongn]

If you legally can't fire someone (or not hire, as the case may be) because they've got AIDS or cancer or something, you sure as hell can't do the exact same thing because of someone's size.

My high school biology teacher had dozens of friends with some sort of affliction: one of them had a heart attack from plaqued-up arteries at 20. No-one would hire him on the grounds of health costs.

This man's case is not without precedent.

[Joe]

While I do not personally approve of such discrimination law (which I will not get into, both because it is such a volatile subject and I do not want a VI subtitled over my avatar), I doubt McDonald's will be able to establish that healthy weight is in fact a BFOQ (bona fide occupational qualification) for flipping burgers. Unless there is a pool of much more qualified applicants available, they can't refuse to hire him on the basis of his weight.

[jegs2]

Okay, I'll throw in my analysis on this piece IOT support my vote:

I think my concern is that if that large fellow is ruled to fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act, then that particular McDonalds will be forced to make accomodations for the man's obesity, inculding expensive modifications of the restaurant and a customized schedule that fits the man's particular needs and capabilities. Since that precident will have been set, then we'll see similar policies adopted throughout the nation in restaurants and other places of business. That can have a dangerous cascading effect, in that any sufficiently overweight person (and yes, the majority of Americans are now overweight) can claim rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cost for such a fiasco would of course be passed onto the consumers (you don't seriously expect the fat-cat owners to foot the bill, do you?), who would wail that prices are being unjustly hiked -- creating unnecessary inflation in an economy that certainly doesn't need it right now.

[Death from the Sea]

I don't understand how he can claim being obese is the reason Mickey D's didn't hire him. I have seen many overweight employees at McDonalds some of whom I knew and they were wieghing in at well over 300 pounds one of which I know was 380 lbs. Seems to me this guy is looking for a FREE MEAL TICKET.

I'll bet they can sttle out of court for a #5 and a Dr. Pepper.... supersized of course!

[Darth Wong]

Allow him to re-apply with the job, and add a physical fitness test to the job requirements. When he fails, explain that it was because of the fitness test, not his obesity.

[Joe]

Allow him to re-apply with the job, and add a physical fitness test to the job requirements. When he fails, explain that it was because of the fitness test, not his obesity.

Can't. McDonalds won't be able to establish that passing the physical fitness test is a BFOQ.

Besides, courts are used to dealing with employers who find ways to evade discrimination law.

[Tsyroc]

When I first saw the title of this thread I thought, "Oh no, I'm going to have to find someplace else to eat".

Anyway, considering how fat much of America (myself included) has become I find it hard to swallow that McDonalds didn't hire this guy solely because of his weight/size. As long as he can move fairly well you would think they could stick him in the drive-thru or something.

I'd also be interested in knowing how he presented himself when he applied for the job. I've been around a few really large people that had some really bad problems with b.o. that did have some corellation with their size. It wasn't something that couldn't be fixed but a lot of the time these people weren't aware of the problem or how it affected the people around them.

[Darth Wong]

That's the other problem; precisely how does he know they didn't hire him because of his size? I seriously doubt the hiring guy said "we can't hire you because you're a fat-ass", so what's his evidence?

[Joe]

That's the other problem; precisely how does he know they didn't hire him because of his size? I seriously doubt the hiring guy said "we can't hire you because you're a fat-ass", so what's his evidence?

Well, if he can produce evidence that he was a competent worker at his other jobs, and that discrimination against the obese is a regular practice at that McDonalds, then he has a case.

I personally think he would cost the place a bit too much productivity (a 400 pound glob of flesh is not going to make moving around a fairly small kitchen easier), but the courts wouldn't buy that defense.

[aphexmonster]

::sigh::

i hate McDonalds -_-