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Employers in Europe may soon have a duty to create reserved car parking spaces for obese staff, or adjust the office furniture for them as BBC reports that the European Court of Justice is considering a test case of a male nanny who says he was fired for being too fat - a ruling that could oblige employers to treat obesity as a disability. Employment expert Audrey Williams says the judges would have to decide "whether obesity itself should trigger preferential rights, or should only impact where an individual, due to obesity, has other recognized medical issues. Employers would have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace or working arrangements," says Williams. "This might include a review of where the employee is located and their seating arrangements, or even preferential access to car parking."
The US Equal Opportunity Commission already defines obesity as being a disability, under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. In a recent case involving morbid obesity, a Texan employee who weighed more than 680 pounds received $55,000 in compensation for being dismissed. In October 2009, the man was told to report to human resources where officials told him the company had reached the conclusion he could no longer "perform his job duties because of his weight and he was therefore terminated," the suit said. Ronald Kratz, who had gotten two promotions and high performance ratings over his 16-year-career, insists his weight did not interfere with his ability to perform his job duties as a parts sorter. Kratz, who lost over three hundred pounds since he was fired, has not been able to find another job despite sending out numerous applications, and his unemployment benefits have run out. "It has been really hard on the family."
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday June 16 2014, @07:37AM
Just like we know that flapping wings lifts a bird off the ground. Yet some birds simply cannot manage it. They flap as hard as they can and nothing much happens.
Some people have that problem with weight loss.
I find it hard to believe that give the level of interest in loosing weight and with so few managing any lasting results that we have the right answers.
We do know that if a fat rat has it's intestinal flora killed off with antibiotics and then re-seeded from a thin rat, the rat will become thin with no effort. That suggests that diet and exercise is not the whole story.
Sure, it is thermodynamics but it is a complex system. It's not Kcal eaten and exercise done. It's KCal actually absorbed (which may vary by type of food) rest metabolism, muscle efficiency, etc.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday June 16 2014, @10:25AM
The reason why, almost without fail, that people yoyo in weight is that they stop doing the things that made them lose weight in the first place. The actual answer that has been proved to work over and over again is you put your health first and you do NOT stop doing that.
The people who have a genuine health reason for beefing up are a minority. You only have to look thirty years ago to see the lower rates of obesity - people havent changed but the exercise is clearly lessened and the diets have gotten worse. So..... for most of us, you fix those two and you do NOT unmake the fix. There. It might take a while for some of us but it will work. It almost always does.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday June 16 2014, @04:48PM
So, if the fix works so well, why do you suppose it keeps getting unmade so often for so many? There must be some reason it is much harder than you think.
(Score: 2) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday June 16 2014, @10:38PM
Did I say it was easy? See a few posts up of mine, I *know* how fucking hard it can be to stay in shape. If you are making an effort and it's not going as well as you like I sympathize. I know what you are going through.
It's easy to fall off the fitness wagon and be a lazy slob however. That, for most people truly is the reason, nothing more. This isnt rocket science and the fact is that we're making it a lot more complex than it should be - eat decent food, moderate exercise, knock of the stupid drinks..... it works.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday June 17 2014, @02:17AM
I never said you think it's easy. I just said it is probably harder than you think (at least for some).
(Score: 3, Informative) by opinionated_science on Monday June 16 2014, @11:46AM
Yes, there are probably a wide range of parameters that can make a difference. But none of them can change the physics. I would be surprised if they amount to more than a factor of two.
Rat studies are interesting to get at the mechanism, but they are fundamentally flawed as the rats compliance is not optional. In a clinical setting the one thing that is not controllable is diet. They have tried it , but it is not legal to force people to eat something they don't want to, well often not..... I mean, would you like to be told what to eat (unless you are married of course...)? Exercise on the other hand, is much easier to measure...
As I pointed out in my post, the daily averages the governments and food companies foist upon us are a complete fantasy. Your personal metabolism is just that - personal. But if everyone who needed it only consumed 1200 kCals , the food companies would be lobbying for the government to tell us to eat more. It is a system with a perverse incentive - companies cannot make enough profit. They don't stop selling something to you when it is good for you.... Just like big pharma, who I am sure would love to sell you a weight loss pill....
In every instance if you expend more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. Once you gain the fat, it is harder to lose because those cells have to be emptied for long enough for your body to reabsorb them. Hence, some patients get "loose skin" in a appearance. But they will lose the weight. Hence, the longer you leave it, the harder it gets. There is some clinical research that suggests we don't lose them so easily....
Being able to exercise is a skill like any other. We are born with a certain amount and we can improve it with practice. The problem with our society is that self-control is in short supply, at a time when the system is setup to feed us anything we want....
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday June 16 2014, @04:54PM
What compliance? It has been tried with the rats free feeding and with equally rationed diets. Either way one day fat rat. Antibiotics and inoculation from thin rat later, rat becomes thin. Laws of physics suspended for rats or system analysis more complex than Kcal eaten - Kcal used? I'll take option B :-)