Excess Baggage Is Not a Firing Offense

By Andrea Sachs

The same day in 1989 that American Airlines gave flight attendant Sherri Cappello her 25-year pin, they fired her for being 11 lbs. overweight. Last week Cappello, now the vice president of American's flight-attendants union, watched with satisfaction as the airline was forced to lift the limits that had cost her a job. After lawsuits by the union and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, American agreed to revise its standards. Under the settlement, the company's 1959 weight requirements will be relaxed, and employees will be able to weigh more as they age. Violators will be required to lose just 2 lbs. a month rather than 1 1/2 lbs. a week. If they fail, they will be given jobs within the company rather than fired.

The war over weight discrimination in the workplace is far from over, however. Studies indicate that fat bias cuts a wide swath through U.S. industry, from executives to waitresses. And in most cases, no laws are broken. The problem is especially acute in service industries, where employees meet the public. According to Esther Rothblum, a psychology professor at the University of Vermont, "If two people, one fat and one thin, walk into a company with the same qualifications, the heavier one will get a more negative reception."

In a case currently before the Supreme Court, Sharon Russell, a 335-lb. nursing student at Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I., was thrown out of school because she failed to lose 2 lbs. a week. Now a nurse in Florida, Russell, 26, sued Salve Regina and won a $44,000 jury verdict. But the school appealed, arguing that her obesity kept Russell, an A student, from completing her clinical requirements. Says Salve Regina's lawyer Steven Snow: "There are certain physical requirements you have to fulfill to be a nurse. I don't know of any blind people who are nurses. Doctors don't write charts in Braille."

The dispute at American was essentially about attractiveness. But certain employees, such as fire fighters and police officers, are monitored because their jobs demand physical fitness. Many employers contend that overweight workers drive up medical costs. Says U-Haul International spokesperson Melora Felts Foley: "The people who are responsible for the majority of skyrocketing health costs are those who use tobacco and those who have weight problems." But some health experts disagree. Says Dr. Albert Stunkard, an obesity specialist at the University of Pennsylvania: "The extent to which overweight people have difficulty in obtaining work goes far beyond what can be justified by medical data and must be due to discrimination." American's new standards may help tip the scales in favor of equal opportunities.