The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, joining two other federal appeals courts that have addressed the issue, has ruled that a plaintiff with severe obesity who was not hired for a safety-sensitive job does not have a “regarded as” disabled claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because he could not attribute his condition to any physiological disorder.
Agreeing with arguments NT Lakis lawyers made in a “friend-of-the-court” brief, the appeals court in Morriss v. BNSF concluded that an individual’s weight will not be considered a physical “impairment” (an element of the broader definition of “disability”) under the ADA unless it both falls outside of “normal” range and is caused by an underlying physiological disorder or condition.
A copy of the Eighth Circuit’s opinion in Morriss is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.