McDonald’s settles obesity employment case
CNN (Reuters reports: “McDonald’s settles suit with overweight man”
No, it’s not about blaming the company for his obesity.
“McDonald’s Corp. said Thursday it settled a[n ADA] lawsuit alleging it had discriminated against a 420-pound man who said he was denied a job in one of its restaurants due to his weight.”
Obesity as a disability is a tough way to go under the ADA, but not impossible. Perceived disability is a real possibility, as employers may believe grossly obese persons cannot perform many jobs, not just the job at issue.
But with McDonald’s, I’d have to say there could be real issues as to such a large person’s ability to perform the essential functions. I worked there 25+ years ago (for $1.60 an hour, no benefits), and have never since worked so hard in terms of long hours on my feet without pause (“if you got time to lean you got time to clean”). We really hustled our buns behind the counter too, as “mystery shoppers” from the company were known to come in and time the service to the second. Judging from my more recent (infrequent) visits to McDonald’s, fast-food isn’t so fast anymore and the hustle may no longer be an essential function.
Of course, it’s probably discriminatory stereotying to assume merely because a man weighs 420, he can’t work long hours on his feet and hustle his (big) buns.
