Should companies be able to penalize their over-weight employees?

It is getting worse and worse. No, I do not think that they should be able to do so. How will you know the cutoff point in the first place. Also, it is discrimination. That is just like, alot of companies will not hire you if you smoke and we just had one company that gave employees a date to quit smoking by or they no longer have a job. Smoking is not illegal and neither is being overweight. Just another way to get a hold of our money.

I think as policeman or fire fighters, it should be mandatory to stay in shape. In that situation, I don't mind employees being penalized. Their lives as well as others, depend on them being fit.

What, this is the first time I heard this ridicolous regulation. Why would they do that, don't they know that there are many reason why a person is fat. How about those who are fat from the day they were born and its because of genes...that means they don't have the chance to get the proper salary they desrve. Plus, if an employee is covered with this regulation I don't think that he will be motivated to do good job or to do diet they will feel more like they were being mock. If I will be on that situation, I will definitely quit the job.

Wow—that is quite ballsy! I can’t imagine a company doing this- How big you are doesn’t make a difference on how well you work- Sure your insurance premiums will go up- why not just forward that on to the employees—like they do everything else- I’m only a touch overweight- I could lose 10-15 pounds—I can’t see my company penalizing me for it- Man I’d hit the roof!

No they should not be able to punish them. Did it ever occur to these companies that some people are like that due to genetics. And others are trying DESPERATELY to lose the weight and cant! I know a guy who barely eats a thing and does much more in aerobic workouts than I do, he doesn't lose a pound. I understand why companies go this route since being over weight or obese has increased health risks. One thing companies could do is have calisthenics early in the day or some time in the day. Or add 30 minutes to break time so people can take a walk or something. But no, time is money and we companies only make money by bleeding everything involved in the process and cutting corners when it suits us. -_-

instead what the insurance should do is offer to help those overweight and obese. maybe with discount or paying for their gym membership!

I do not think they should be allowed to punish over weight employees. It is illegal to do that and companies can get into serious trouble for penalizing people that are overweight. Like another member mentioned, it is discrimination. It wrong to fire or reduce a persons pay because they are overweight or have other health issues.

I think it is very unfair myself espically to people that have a hard time like me keeping their weight off.

That is so stupid. It's not going to help anything at all. There will be a lot more insurance claims from these people because they will be sick from not eating enough to try to lose the weight so that they can get their salary back. It's definitely discrimination to do something like that. Are they going to start doing age discrimination, too? Insurance is cheaper for young people, so do the older people have to start paying some of their salary for an "OLD penalty" since a lot of insurance premiums start going up before a person reaches retirement age? And how will they figure who is overweight? Different body types need to weigh different amounts. Someone who is 5'5 and weighs 150 lbs might be overweight, but if it's all muscle, they AREN'T fat.

That is not quite fair, I am on the overweight side too, good thing I don't live in the Us, but that is really upsetting and I don't hink It will ever happen, how would they determine the amount that they will deduct? by the excess pounds? gross.. They can start thinking of penalizing those underweight too..you know those super skinny people..:)

I don't think that your employer should be able to punish you for your weight. That sounds like discrimination to me. I don't think it is fair to fine employees who smoke either. That is their choice. I believe that companies and the government are too involved in other peoples' lives.

iam sameer and iam 18 years old i think that the over weight employee should have an insurance bacause as they become older their skin will flattures and they may cause problem to do work,to walk, lasieness will over take him, so i tkink that it is fair but in the case of baby it is not fair i think that the the lady who is pregnent have to live the job and attend it after he born of her baby

This is just so wrong!!! Why don't companies come up with constructive ideas instead of this carrot and stick approach? They should have learnt by now that this kind of tactic jus doesn't work. Ppl are gonna come up with ways to cheat the system. This is such an invitation to eating disorders. Every employee who suspects themselves of bein overweight is gonna be purging and attempting every sick trick in the book to lose a few pounds before weighing day. I don't think companies will go thru with this finally cos they'd just be layin out the welcome mat for anyone who wanted to sue their pants off. Think about all the mental agony suits that could be filed. Not to mention the discrimination suits. If companies do implement this policy, there could be a lotta fat ppl out there makin moolah hand over fist...

This is all crap.How can you cut salary on basis of weight?It's totally unfair.

I am not from the US, but this is the first time I've heard of such an implementation by any corporation. Even if it is backed by an employment policy, I would think it will not go down well with employees. It is certainly not easy for someone deemed overweight to lose the extra pounds overnight to avoid the pay penalty. Some people will never be able to achieve that even if they are given months and years to do so. To those who are affected, it seems discriminatory. In my company, a yearly basket of benefits in terms of points are accorded to employees based on their type of employment, seniority and salary level. At the start of each year, employees choose how they will wish to use up their given points to "purchase" various benefits, eg. insurance for themselves and their family members, medical and hospitalisation plans, claims for holiday expenditures, dental benefits and others. Some benefits are mandatory and must be "purchased", eg. medical benefits so that employees can get subsidized or free medical benefits if they fall ill while working. By handling the benefits separate from the salary part, the employee's salary remains intact and is not adjusted if employees need higher insurance premiums or a more expensive hospitalisation plan for whatever the reason. The employee merely makes tradeoffs, and if he/she spends more points on insurance premiums, then he/she will have less points to use for other benefits. I think companies can follow such a model, so that even if additional health insurance premiums are required for overweight staff, this will not affect the staff's salary, but only what overall benefits the staff will enjoy as a total package.

All sounds a bit bizarre to me! In the UK a similar thing has been proposed but as far as I know is far from coming in to our real lives. Obviously we have a national health service so the extra money wouldn't be taken out of the paycheck directly for health care but the government has proposed that overweight people should be charged more tax......in short a 'fat tax'. With the logic basically being that the extra tax they pay will cover there extra use of the NHS. Of course I don't believe for a minute that the extra tax generated will be used on the NHS but probably pocketed by someone!!! I think it is a terrible idea.....afterall as soon as you start down that road you are opening a whole can of worms. Some overweight people are perfectly healthy and many thin people use medical facilities lots.