Weight Bias and Public Health: The Need for Legal Solutions

Despite the obesity epidemic, the prevalence of weight discrimination has increased by 66% over the past decade, and is now comparable to prevalence rates of racial discrimination in America. Significant public health implications result from such entrenched discrimination. Weight stigma threatens the psychological and physical health of obese individuals, impedes the implementation of effective legal and public health efforts to prevent obesity, and generates and exacerbates health disparities. These outcomes highlight the importance of addressing weight stigma as both a social justice issue and a priority in public health law. Although weight discrimination is prevalent in many venues, such as health care and education, bias in the context of employment is especially problematic because employment is tied to financial stability and access to health care in the United States. Currently obese people have little legal recourse to redress discrimination in employment. This presentation will discuss the state of the law for impacted persons to address weight discrimination in the employment setting and propose future directions for legal interventions to address this pervasive public health problem.