The Fat Truth - Being Mean is Not Against the Law.
A Massachusetts court in December dismissed a disability discrimination claim by an employee who claimed she was “regarded as” disabled because a co-worker called her a “fat pig” and other derogatory terms.
In Bartier v. Local Motion, Inc., Yolenne Barlatier claimed race and disability discrimination. Her race discrimination claim was allowed to proceed, but the court dismissed her claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Barlatier claimed she was discriminated daily by a bullying co-worker who called her “fat,” “fat pig,” “big,” and saying she did not fit into her uniform. “These comments — though hurtful — do not support a ‘regarded as’ theory of disability,” the court stated. More specifically, the court held that the plaintiff failed to show that she was regarded as substantially limited in any major life activity, as required under the law, and more basically that she failed to plead a “regarded as” claim (versus discrimination based on an actual disability) in her complaint, and could not raise such a theory for the first time in response to a motion for summary judgment after discovery had closed.
The employer may have escaped a finding of disability discrimination in this case, but having such abusive language at work is never a good practice – under the law, in life or in politics. And the fact that Local Motion allowed such language at work is likely what landed it in court – where it will still have to face the music on the race discrimination claim.
And, as they say, it ain’t over till the full-size lady sings.