Fat? This Hospital Won't Hire You... [View all]

[one_voice]

Say you are 5 feet 10 inches tall, weigh 250 pounds, and are applying for an administrative job at a hospital. If it happens to be with the Citizens Medical Center in Victoria, Texas, then don't bother applying -- you are too heavy for their liking.

The southeastern Texas hospital has adopted an unusual policy in which it will not hire anyone with a body mass index over 35, or 230 pounds for anyone 5 feet 8 inches; 260 pounds for anyone 6 feet. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, which first reported on the BMI-based policy, CMC's chief executive, David Brown, defended the practice, saying the hospital had a responsibility to cater to its patients' preferences.

"The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance," said Brown. "We have the ability as an employer to characterize our process and to have a policy that says what's best for our business and for our patients."

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Still, most experts agree that obese and overweight Americans -- slightly more than two out of three adults fall into that group -- have few legal protections when it comes to workplace discrimination. Overweight Americans are only protected from discrimination if their weight is registered as a formal disability under the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.

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http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/04/04/fat-this-hospital-wont-hire-you/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl5|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D149263