Obese people are 'disabled', EU court rules

19 December 2014 - 02:03 By ©The Daily Telegraph
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
In women, obesity can affect any pregnancy and the health of their future children
In women, obesity can affect any pregnancy and the health of their future children
Image: supplied

Fatness "can constitute a disability" for the purposes of EU legislation mandating equality at work, Europe's highest court has ruled.

The ruling means companies in the EU will be required to treat obese workers as "disabled", providing them with larger seats, special parking spaces and other special facilities.

The EU court ruling, which is binding on the bloc's employers, was handed down in a case brought by Karsten Kaltoft, a Danish childminder, who claimed he was sacked because he is overweight.

Kaltoft hailed the ruling as victory against his former employer, the local authority in the small Danish town of Billund.

"I never saw it as a requirement that I needed to lose weight and never had a feeling that it could cost me the job," he said.

Important to the ruling is the EU court's judgment that the origin of the disability is irrelevant, even if gross obesity is caused by overeating or gluttony.

"The directive has the object of implementing equal treatment and . its application [is not] dependent on the origin of the disability."

The Danish local authority that employed Kaltoft fired him because it had been told that he was so fat he needed help from a colleague to tie children's shoelaces.

Now EU employers will have to find ways to ensure that fat workers are not at a disadvantage compared to their slimmer colleagues.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now