Showing up for work is still a job requirement regardless of the immediate cause. Companies have (should have) a corrective action program for absences and follow it. The issue of absenteeism is being confused with the obese preface. Personal behavior only becomes an issue when it interferes with a person’s ability or other associates ability to do their job.

So rewind the statement - “Businesses that fire . . . employees who . . . miss work . . . are . . . justified . . ."

Unfortunately I think that as health care costs continue upward there will be more and more temptation by insurance companies to discriminate more and more (even to the point of using genetic information) Recent proposed legislation is trying to head that off.

Also, is anyone else getting these "access denied to this page" errors? This site continues to struggle on the IT side.

The problem with discrimination laws of any kind is that they are subjective by definition.

Someone who is blatantly incompetent can simply claim fat-discrimination if they happen to have a couple of extra pounds on them. And from there it's even more subjective.

Can you picture this scenario in court? A guy that's not really "fat" but just a big barrel of a guy can cry foul, even though most wouldn't call his body type fat.

So is everything beyond sixpack abs fat? Is everything under 400 pounds not-fat?

Who's to decide?

And therein lies the problem with the government being in our personal lives at every turn; the subjective nature in which all bureaucracies operate.

One more thing; why are all of the questions anonymous?

The amount of work they missed should be the reason to be fired, not the reason they missed it. It's going to be hard to sell personal traits as a reason to let someone go whatever they might be. If you get an approval on this you should include "the annoying" because of the amount of other peoples time they waste.

alcoholics aren't fired because they are alcoholics, they are fired because of their actions; drinking on the job, failing a drug test, being drunk at work. How is that the same? Are you generalizing obese people? All obese people must have all these medical problems and so they take too much time off work and this justifies them being fired? Um, don't they pay for health insurance like everyone else? What about those who play hooky? It seems that Mr. Anonymous is a little single-minded and may perhaps have an agenda.

Wow, I'd have to say that's a bit harsh. The next time you are ill you might want to think about this comment. Not every obese person stuffs their face with food. Many have health conditions that cause weight gain. In my workplace I see the young, active staff members use a lot more sick time than our obese, older, and smoking staff. Will we fire the diabetics too?

I disagree simply because then the by extension you could not discriminate against the alcoholic. Seriously though, in our society obesity is an extension of poverty of time or money. Look how cheap and quick it is to make prepared and fatty foods instead of expensive staples used to make healthy meals. The companies that fire obese people would be better served by hiring more personnel so they don't work their employees into obesity.

Not everyone who is obese is that way as a result of poor personal choices, heredity, genes and things like diabetes are all factors to this epidemic. You cannot blame a person for being diabetic any more than you can blame the sky for being blue. No one asks for that. It is not a company's business if an employee has a chronic health condition that causes their obesity. To pass judgment on someone based on their appearance is racism when concerning ethnic background, but in regard to health history it is just plain ignorant.

Ultimately this is true but the issue is in the "how" this is carried out. We tend to justify any behavior or action based on the needs of the business bottom line. But businesses need to treat people with respect and compasssion in carrying out the business'mission.

Even though I agree I can see the unPC hue to this comment, however, maybe this is exactly what North American society needs to capitulate the obesity problem towards a solution - hitting people in their pocket book always seems to get a lot of attention. On this same topic, airlines should sell their seats based on a variable, by the kilogram scale. The more you weigh, the more you pay.