Are obese people a protected class?

[Randy E.]

While replying to another thread about family size, I was reminded of two separate incidents regarding size of another nature.

The first was a few years ago when I showed a vacant 2BR/1BA house to woman who had called and asked about the property.  When she arrived at the house, she was extremely overweight, probably around 350 at least.  Her husband was also rather large.  Then noticed the two young adult daughters in the van who would also be living in the house and they were very overweight too.  I wondered if my little bathroom could handle such weights on a constant basis.  The couple liked the place a lot, but ended up declining because they didn't like the utility room where the W/D connections were located.

A second incident was when I rented that same small property to a young single man who was well over 400 pounds.  I questioned again if my little bathroom was up to the challenge, but was very pleased with the guy overall, so the lease was signed and he moved in.  A few months into the tenancy, he complained of a very high water bill.  A plumber looked at the relatively new toilet and said he had to repair something that had come loose and caused a non-stop leak.  I reminded the tenant to call me immediately if he hears a leak.  Near the one-year mark, the tenant had to be hospitalized for a weight-related ailment and ended up moving out.  He moved out immediately (actually he went to the hospital immediately, then moved in with his mother because he would need to have a caregiver in the house with him) but he paid for the following month to make sure I had 30-days notice.  As I was checking out the otherwise clean place, I realized the toilet was wobbly.  Bottom line, his weight had loosened the floor screws, damaged the flange, and water had been leaking into the subfloor and had damaged the subfloor.  Basically, he was too heavy to sit and rise with ease, so he PLOPPED down to sit and ROCKED himself back and forth to stand. It was a $450 repair overall.

So, now I'm wondering if obesity is a protected class.  I don't want to automatically eliminate obese people, but I'm curious.

[Zech Ehnert]

It is possible that they are protected in your area. I believe that just being obese may not be enough to protect them they may qualify for disability and that protect them. 

Only suggestion would when replacing or repairing toilets reinforce them to handle the extra weight. I have a few units that are going to have bathroom rehabs, after reading this I'm going to make sure that the toilets are reinforced. I mean I rent properties in Wisconsin.

From http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a2bc...

Currently, Michigan is the only state that has enacted legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of a person’s weight. In addition, six cities in the United States have enacted similar laws – Urbana, IL; Madison, WI; Santa Cruz and San Francisco, CA; Washington, D.C; and Binghamton, NY.

While there is no federal statute that specifically identifies obese individuals as a protected class, employees and job applicants across the country have initiated lawsuits alleging disability discrimination on the basis of their weight.