Plus Size A Plus?
Whitney Thompson became the first plus-size model to win America’s Next Top Model last night.
Perhaps more important than her Cover Girl commercial is that her victory also presents a collision between pop culture and law. According to the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination (CSWD), discrimination against larger people is rampant. For example, CSWD claims that heavier workers are paid $1.25 less an hour and, over a 40-year career, they will earn up to $100,000 less before taxes than their thinner counterparts.
Do larger people have legal protections against discrimination in the workplace?
Not really.
Michigan is the only state with a law that specifically protects overweight people from discrimination in the workplace. Everyone else is pretty much out of luck, unless you are disabled or perceived as being disabled due to weight. This disability exception, however, likely applies to a very limited number of people.
