Air India Bans Overweight Workers, and Just in Time for Swimsuit Season!

Air India recently grounded several of its flight attendants because they were over the weight limit set in their job requirements. The corporation used to give their employees a 6.6 pound buffer zone for their weight, but changed their policy two years ago. Twelve attendants sued the airline on the grounds of discrimination, but the Delhi High Court ruled in favor of Air India.

As if we don’t have enough weight-related diseases and psychological issues already! Now there is the looming threat that companies may be able to institute weight requirements for jobs. Our country might as well put on the “No Fatties T-Shirt” and get it over with.

Some jobs already have unofficial weight limits; models, dancers, and professional gymnasts usually have strict diets and nutrition requirements and if you’re overweight, you’re probably out of work. What if teachers couldn’t be more than 6 pounds over the average weight for their age and height? Schools might be shut down and the educational system would fall to pieces, future generations would never amass the necessary knowledge and social skills, and society as we know it would cease to exist!

Ok, so we’re not quite there yet. American airlines actually had a similar lawsuit brought forth by workers but the courts ruled in favor of the flight attendants. And construction companies and plumbers’ unions probably won’t be putting their employees on the scale any time soon.

However, this article begs to ask the question “Should some jobs have weight limits?” As much as I hate to admit it, it is somewhat fair of airlines to require their employees to maintain a lower weight. Most U.S. Airlines have a strict weight requirement for their flights, and many companies are beginning to charge passengers for extra baggage to compensate for the extra cost of fuel and maintenance on heavier flights. And I don’t know if any of you have ever ridden coach on a cross-country flight, but the aisles are not exactly conducive to the heavier-set person. The conditions are cramped as it is, and I would imagine that an overweight person would feel uncomfortable in that setting.

Will other jobs feel the need to set weight limits now that airlines have done so? Are there certain jobs that have a reasonable basis for creating and enforcing weight requirements? Or is this just essentially a form of socially “acceptable” discrimination? Weight requirements could cause outbreaks of anorexia and bulimia, psychological distress in the masses, and the virtual destruction of self-esteem in our nation.

But could weight limits be a good thing? It could help to reduce or even eliminate obesity. These requirements could spark an increase in exercise, in turn improving national health, reducing spending on health care, and lifting the burden of rising health insurance premiums. Health care would become affordable and more widely available to the nation.

Classical musicians would probably be among the last to have the weight requirements implemented, so I’m not too worried. But maybe I’ll keep doing Pilates after bathing suit season is over, just in case.