Europe's top court ruled on Thursday that obese people can be considered as disabled, but it stopped short of saying that obesity was a condition that needed specific protection under European anti-discrimination laws. The landmark decision will be closely read by European employers and means that companies might have to provide greater support to obese staff. 
 
 The case was instigated by a Danish court, which wanted guidance over a complaint of unfair dismissal brought by a child caregiver who was sacked by a local authority. 
 
 Karsten Kaltoft, who never weighed less than 352 pounds during his employment, argued that his obesity was one of the reasons he lost his job and that this amounted to unlawful discrimination — an allegation the council denied. 
 
 The Court of Justice of the European Union (EJC) ruled that EU employment law did not specifically prohibit discrimination on the grounds of obesity, and said the law should not be extended to make it a protected category. 
 
 However, the Luxembourg-based court said that if an employee's obesity hindered "full and effective participation of that person in professional life on an equal basis with other workers" then it could be considered a disability. This, in turn, is covered by anti-discrimination legislation. 
 
 Classifying obesity as a protected characteristic — such as sex, race or age — would have required employers to take measures to ensure obese workers could perform their duties on an equal footing with others. 
 
 "It would have opened a can of worms," said Crowley Woodford, employment partner at the international law firm Ashurst. 
 
 However, Friday's nuanced ruling still leaves companies open to potential discrimination suits. 
 
 "If you consider the obese disabled, all of a sudden it triggers certain protections for employees," said Jacob Sand, a partner at Danish law firm Gorrissen Federspiel, which represented Kaltoft. 
 
 Considering obesity a disability also reverses the burden of proof in workplace disputes over discrimination, Sand added, meaning it will be easier for employees to argue they had been discriminated against on the basis of their disability. 
 
 "That makes it a whole lot easier for employees in that it is easier to win the case," Sand said. 
 
 However, it does not mean that employers cannot fire someone whose size means that they are unable to do their job, rather that they must consider whether any adjustments need to be made to help the employee perform their role first, said Stefan Martin, employment partner at law firm Mayer Brown. 
 
 According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), based on 2008 estimates, roughly 23 percent of European women and 20 percent of European men were obese. 
 
 The issue of whether obesity is a disability has also been dealt with in the U.S., where almost one in three adults is obese, according to WHO data. Some states, such as Michigan, have enacted legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person's weight. 
 
 The Danish court must now decide whether Kaltoft's obesity represented a disability. It is expected to reach a decision before the end of next year. Kaltoft had asked for compensation equivalent to 15 months' salary for his dismissal, Sand said. 
 
 Reuters ||||| 
 
 Society gives benefits to other people with physical disabilities. Why not those with morbid obesity? (Mike Mozart/Flickr) 
 
 Job interviews are an uncomfortable experience for most people. But for people like me who suffer from morbid obesity, they are especially grueling. It’s hard to impress someone when you’re the fat applicant. There’s the added challenge of sustaining an engaging conversation as a potential future employer walks you around the premises, a hike that leaves you winded. After that, you have to squeeze into a tiny chair and present your credentials, maintaining a charming demeanor as the blood circulation to the lower half of your body is cut off. I went through this process over and over again while I was searching for a job. I did land one eventually, as a manager in one of the world’s leading business schools. But my problems didn’t end there. Because of my handicap, co-workers had to take over tasks that I couldn’t manage – mainly those that involved climbing any number of stairs or walking more than 20 feet. 
 
 It is clear to me that morbid obesity — defined as having a body mass index above 40 — is often a disability, irrelevant of the cause. But in many legal systems, that’s still an unanswered question. Even as obesity rates have soared, U.S. and European courts have grappled with whether to classify the most severe cases as a disability, which would obligate employers to provide necessary accommodations so obese employees can overcome their handicap at work, such as larger chairs and uniforms. In recent years, the U.S. legal system has started leaning in favor of obese workers. For instance, in Texas, a 600-pound forklift operator filed a lawsuit against his former employer when the company refused to give him a seat belt extender to do his job safely, and then fired him two weeks later. The company ultimately settled for $55,000. 
 
 Today, the European Court of Justice is scheduled to settle this matter for its member countries. The court’s ruling, which would affect all nations in the European Union, will determine whether morbidly obese employees are protected from workplace discrimination related to their weight. The question was raised by a case in Denmark, where a child-care worker with a BMI of 54 was fired in 2010. Carrying 352 pounds on a 5-foot-7-inch frame, Karsten Kaltoft reportedly had difficulty performing certain tasks, such as tying children’s shoes. Believing that’s why he lost his job, Kaltoft filed a disability discrimination suit against his employer. The court’s advocate general issued a preliminary ruling in July, determining that severe obesity could qualify as a disability, regardless of whether it was “self-inflicted” or related to another medical issue. If the court follows the advocate general’s lead and grants morbidly obese Europeans disability status, it would help improve working conditions for a growing portion of Europe’s workforce, and serve as a model for addressing the obesity problem worldwide. 
 
 (Update: The European Court of Justice has ruled that obesity can be considered a disability, according to news reports.) 
 
 Nearly 30 percent of the global population is either overweight or obese, according to a survey by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics. No country in the world has lowered its obesity rate since 1980. The prevalence of morbid obesity appears to be growing particularly fast, especially in the United States, where an estimated 6.6 percent of the population falls into that category. In Britain, the percentage of morbidly obese people jumped threefold between 1995 and 2010, to about 2.7 percent of the population. The trend of piling on the pounds is prevalent across all sections of society, making it an unavoidable issue for employers. It’s critical that we address the ever-expanding waistlines of our workforce. 
 
 The number of U.S. adults experiencing weight discrimination increased 66 percent between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, according to Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The center found that people who are overweight or obese regularly earn less and get fewer promotions than those who aren’t, based on various studies. One study concluded that discrimination due to weight is now more prevalent than discrimination due to ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other physical disabilities. Research confirms that overweight people have a harder time finding work, too. The University of Tübingen in Germany studied the reactions of human resource professionals to photos of job candidates, including ones described as overweight. The recruiters were far less likely to select the overweight candidates for prestigious jobs, particularly female candidates. This kind of discrimination will inevitably worsen the inequality women experience in the workplace, especially for those seeking positions of authority. 
 
 By failing to recognize morbid obesity as a disability, society is alienating a growing number of people from working life. We don’t debate whether a person who breaks his back due to reckless behavior should be granted disabled status. Morbidly obese people should be afforded the same benefits as other workers suffering with debilitating conditions. My own struggles in the workplace may have been greatly reduced with more official assistance.​ Because some companies commit to filling a percentage of their positions with disabled workers (certain countries even mandate disability quotas), classifying morbidly obese people as disabled could make more jobs available to us and ease that grueling job search process. And with the backing of disability laws, obese employees would feel more comfortable speaking up about their limitations, requiring employers to provide accommodations like parking spaces closer to office entrances. 
 
 To improve my situation, I recently underwent gastric-sleeve bariatric surgery and have lost 70 pounds in two-and-a-half months. But a long-term solution is critical to end the obesity epidemic, and surgery and workplace protections aren’t it. If obesity continues to grow at the current rate, at some point, most of the population could be classified as disabled, threatening the ability of our health-care system and economy to function. To fix the obesity problem, regulators should target the food industry and its excessive use of sugar and other fattening products, which an increasing number of researchers believe are addictive. Schools also should teach our children the value of a healthy lifestyle and debunk food companies’ myths about what constitutes a healthy snack (‘low fat’ yogurts, for instance, are pumped with sugar). Legal recognition of morbid obesity as a disability is necessary to bring some justice to a highly discriminated-against group. But it should not fuel complacency in addressing the deadly rise of obesity.​ 
 
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 Obesity can constitute a disability in certain circumstances, the EU's highest court has ruled. 
 
 The European Court of Justice was asked to consider the case of a male childminder in Denmark who says he was sacked for being too fat. 
 
 The court said that if obesity could hinder "full and effective participation" at work then it could count as a disability. 
 
 The ruling is binding across the EU. 
 
 If employers suddenly have to start ensuring that they've got wider seats, larger tables, more parking spaces for people who are obese, I think then we're just making the situation worse Jane Deville Almond, British Obesity Society 
 
 Judges said that obesity in itself was not a disability - but if a person had a long-term impairment because of their obesity, then they would be protected by disability legislation. 
 
 The case centres around childminder Karsten Kaltoft who weighs about 160kg (25 stone). 
 
 He brought a discrimination case against his employers of 15 years, Billund local authority, after he was sacked four years ago. 
 
 The authority said a fall in the number of children meant Mr Kaltoft was no longer required. 
 
 But Mr Kaltoft said he was dismissed because he was overweight. 
 
 'No problems' 
 
 Earlier this year, he told the BBC that reports that he was so fat he was unable to bend down to tie children's shoelaces were untrue. 
 
 Describing his work with children, he said: "I can sit on the floor and play with them, I have no problems like that. 
 
 "I don't see myself as disabled. It's not OK just to fire a person because they're fat, if they're doing their job properly." 
 
 The Danish courts asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to clarify whether obesity was a disability. 
 
 The ECJ ruled that if the obesity of the worker "hinders the full and effective participation of that person in professional life on an equal basis with other workers", then obesity can fall within the concept of "disability". 
 
 Rulings from the European Court of Justice are binding for all EU member nations. 
 
 The courts in Denmark will now have to assess Mr Kaltoft's weight to see if his case can be classed as a disability. 
 
 Analysis 
 
 by Clive Coleman, BBC's legal correspondent 
 
 Today's ruling was of great interest to employers across Europe. The judgement makes no direct link between Body Mass Index and obesity, but is a powerful statement that an obese worker whose weight hinders their performance at work is entitled to disability protection. 
 
 That will mean employers must, on a case by case basis, make reasonable adjustments such as providing larger chairs or special car parking, and protect such employees from verbal harassment. 
 
 But there are wider implications. Providers of goods and services such as shops, cinemas and restaurants will also have to make reasonable adjustments for their customers, which might include things like special seating arrangements. 
 
 The key concept here is that adjustments must be "reasonable" - so it may be deemed reasonable for a Premier League football club to make two seats available for someone disabled through obesity, but not for a small, non-league club. 
 
 Obesity, particularly what is sometimes known as morbid or severe and complex obesity, can be a particularly sensitive subject. 
 
 Employers and service providers will have to take care not to make assumptions about the needs of an obese worker or customer. 
 
 'Wider seats' 
 
 Jane Deville Almond, the chairwoman of the British Obesity Society, said obesity should not be classed as a disability. 
 
 She told the BBC: "I think the downside would be that if employers suddenly have to start ensuring that they've got wider seats, larger tables, more parking spaces for people who are obese, I think then we're just making the situation worse. 
 
 Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Employers could be required to make their offices more accessible for obese employees 
 
 "[It is] implying that people have no control over the condition, rather than something that can be greatly improved by changing behaviour." 
 
 Paul Callaghan, head of employment law at international law firm Taylor Wessing, said the ruling does not change UK law. 
 
 "The European Court of Justice has ruled that obesity itself is not a disability, but that the effects of it can be. 
 
 "As such, workers who suffer from, for example, joint problems, depression, or diabetes - specifically because of their size - will be protected by the European Equal Treatment Framework Directive and cannot be dismissed because of their weight." 
 
 Employers' responsibility 
 
 Audrey Williams, employment law partner at Eversheds, said the mere fact someone is obese is not enough to make them disabled. 
 
 "What the court are saying is that obesity is not protected unless it hinders professional life." 
 
 She said the ruling would increase awareness among employers of their responsibility towards obese employees in the workplace. 
 
 This could include making reasonable adjustments to working arrangements, seating arrangements or making access to the office easier. 
 
 However, Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the ruling had opened a can of worms for UK employers. 
 
 "They will be required to make adjustments to their furniture and doors and whatever is needed for very large people. 
 
 "I believe it will also cause friction in the workplace between obese people and other workers." 
 
 One in four people in the UK is classified as obese.
– Obese people who feel discriminated against in the workplace scored a potentially big legal victory in Europe today. The European Court of Justice ruled that obesity can be a disability that requires special protections, reports the BBC. The ruling is "nuanced," however, observes Al Jazeera America. The court didn't say outright that obesity is a disability, only that it can be under certain circumstances—specifically if the obesity hinders "full and effective participation" at work. The case in question involves a 350-pound man in Denmark who says he got fired from his job as a child caregiver because of his weight. His case now goes back to a lower court that will determine whether he qualifies as disabled under the new guidelines. Courts in the US in recent years have generally begun protecting obese workers, writes Helen Leahey in the Washington Post. But Leahey, who describes herself as morbidly obese, says more needs to be done. "By failing to recognize morbid obesity as a disability, society is alienating a growing number of people from working life," she writes. "We don't debate whether a person who breaks his back due to reckless behavior should be granted disabled status." The second half of the equation is more aggressive regulation of the food industry and better nutrition education in school, she adds. (Obesity might shave eight years off a person's life.)