New York City bans weight discrimination in the workplace

New York City is set to ban weight and height discrimination, providing additional protections for employees and job-seekers.

The latest. The city council voted on May 11 to pass a ban on weight and height discrimination. The bill stipulates that employers and housing authorities cannot reject applicants based on their height or weight, with limited exceptions, according to reports.

“Over 50 years ago, hundreds of body positivity activists gathered in Central Park to protest the daily injustices faced by heavier people,” City Councilman Shaun Abreu said in a press release. “While it took way too long to enact something so basic and widely-supported, it is only fitting that the most diverse New York City Council in history is the one to step up and enshrine this anti-discrimination principle into law, in the very city where this movement began,” he said. Abreu told the New York Times that he has personally received comments on his weight, noting the need for the legislation.

Protections needed. Advocates view the legislation as a crucial step in addressing workplace discrimination. Research has found that overweight women tend to earn less than their “normal weight” peers, according to a Vanderbuilt study, and are subject to negative bias from employers. “Walking into a job interview as a fat person, I’m already at a disadvantage…I know that whatever my qualifications are, my weight is a con,” fat activist Victoria Abraham told CNN.

However, opponents say that the law will unfairly burden businesses and will open the floodgates for more lawsuits, the BBC reported.

The legislation is awaiting Mayor Eric Adams’s signature, but he has previously voiced support for the intent of the bill.—KP