“An Indiana court has ruled that a pizza shop must pay for a 340-pound employee’s weight-loss surgery to ensure the success of another operation for a back injury he suffered at work — raising concern among businesses bracing for more such claims.” The case was decided under workers’ compensation law, which is generally more coverage-friendly than workplace liability law. [AP] More: NLJ.
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The employer has to pay for the weight-loss surgery. That might make employers want to avoid hiring majorly obese employees. But wait – that would result in a lawsuit due to weight discrimination. I suppose that even if an employee were to be rail-thin when hired, and then started massively overeating, and then got injured as a result of being massively obese, the employer would still have to pay for the weight-loss surgery?
I’ll leave the conclusion jumping to those with political axes to grind. Obviously, this post doesn’t supply the background information, etc. behind the case. I can imagine a fact pattern where this all makes sense. I’m wondering how close reality my assessment is.