Labor Law: Goodman v. L.A. Weight Loss Centers

This case concerns a morbidly obese man (plaintiff) weighing 350 pounds who was denied the job of a sales counselor for a weight loss center and was asked to reapply after shedding seventy pounds though he was otherwise qualified. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against particular aspects, such as political allegiance, appearance, marital or parental status, or sexual orientation. The new legislation of The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) 2008 and Americans with Disabilities Act 2008 (ADA) prohibit discrimination in employment as part of an expansion of civil rights laws.

Protection is against discrimination based on biological characteristics. The discrimination laws prohibit denial of work based on aspects that are irrelevant to job performance. The ADA mentions that immutable traits that are incidental to birth or that which are unchangeable or so essential to personal identity should not be required to be changed for the purpose of employment. The ADA has defined the term disability as a physical or mental impairment that prevents entirely or partly carrying out major life activities. Courts have interpreted these terms narrowly, even to exclude mental retardation for the ADA purposes held in Littleton v Wall-Mart Stores.

The plaintiff was not substantially crippled with respect to any significant life activity. In the instant case, the plaintiff’s employment would be detrimental to the interests of the nature of business of the defendants. The plaintiff was asked by the employer to reduce his weight by seventy pounds and reapply and was never refused to be taken into employment. The court rightly decided that the plaintiff failed to plead that he was substantially limited in the significant life activity of working and upheld the employer’s decision as well within the rights of their hiring decisions based on specific physical characteristics.