Can I Make My Obese Employees to Go to the Doctor?

Ordering an obese employee to visit the doctor is a risky strategy. Encouraging workers to lose weight is fine, but making doctor visits or trips to weight-loss clinics mandatory -- threatening to fire or not promote workers who refuse, for instance -- can lead to lawsuits. Some states specifically ban job discrimination based on weight, and you may end up on the wrong side of federal law too.


The Americans with Disabilities Act forbids discrimination against disabled employees. If a worker's obesity relates to a qualifying disability, such as diabetes, you can't force her to see a doctor or order her to lose weight without violating the law. In 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued in court that obesity, in itself, was a disability under the ADA's 2008 amendments. The EEOC won one obese worker a $55,000 settlement from the employer who fired him.


Just because someone has a spare tire doesn't mean he's ADA-protected. The act includes guidelines for determining disability, for example that the condition substantially restricts regular life activities. If an employee does qualify and can still perform his job, the law expects you to make reasonable efforts to accommodate his obesity. In one Louisiana case, the EEOC won after showing a 680-pound employee had been fired despite consistently superior performance ratings.


You're on safer ground if you offer incentives for weight loss rather than ordering employees to shed the pounds. Employees generally approve of incentive programs that provide health coaching or gym memberships, or offer lower insurance premiums for people who meet health benchmarks. You still have to avoid discrimination. For example, morbidly obese employees probably can't get down to the same weight as average-body employees. To avoid ADA issues you should have a second set of goals obese employees can plausibly reach.


If you do give an employee an ultimatum about managing her weight, be very careful to keep the matter confidential. Even if the weight isn't enough to qualify as a disability, federal law places tight restrictions on divulging health information to anyone who doesn't need to know. If your employee refuses and you fire her, discussing her medical issues or history when someone asks you for a job reference puts you at risk for a confidentiality lawsuit.



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