Following a ruling by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), extreme obesity may be classified as a disability under EU law, providing protection for morbidly overweight employees who suffer discrimination at work.
In a case involving a Danish child-minder who weighed more than 160kg (25st) and was dismissed by his employer in 2010 after being unable to bend down to tie up shoelaces, the Advocate General (AG) issued a preliminary ruling in his favour.
The AG’s opinion is not binding but is generally followed by the European court. If the ECJ rules this way too, then the law will apply to the UK, where obesity is not recognised as a disability.
The child-minder argued that his weight was one of the reasons he lost his job and claimed unfair discrimination against the local council that employed him at the time.
When the case was referred to the ECJ, the court was asked to rule on whether EU law forbade discrimination on the grounds of obesity and whether obesity could be considered a disability.
According to the AG, EU law does not prohibit discrimination specifically on the grounds of obesity but he concluded that very severe obesity, meaning a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 could be classed as a disability if it has reached such a degree that it “plainly hinders participation in professional life”.
The ECJ will now consider the case in greater detail and if it upholds the AG’s view, it will be up to a Danish court to decide whether the man’s obesity met the court’s definition of a disability.
If successful, the case could force widespread changes in the way employers all over the EU deal with staff and what support, such as reserved parking or healthy meal options, they might be required to provide.