BAE sued for firing fatty

[Recovering LSO]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/government-sues-bae-systems-firing-600-lb-employee/story?id=14623887

I suspect there is a lot more to this story, and it will be interesting to hear what his former co-workers have to say. If the company is going to be on the hook for his health care - are they not afforded some say in how he maintains his health? Some companies won't hire smokers and actually test for nicotine the same way they test for other drugs - and its legal, because you don't have to work there. Seems to me that they might have been better off just coming out and saying this instead of trying to frame it as a performance issue.

The story also says that his unemployment benefits recently ran out - folks still get 99 weeks of benefits?

 

[MPH]

I got a sentence into the article and all I can say is:

BEING FAT ISN'T A DISABILITY. Anything you can undo on your own with a little bit of effort is NOT a disability, and it's a disgrace to people with ACTUAL disabilities.

 

[CommodoreMid]

The only thing I could see that the company could get slammed with is that they say he wasn't being safe since he wasn't wearing a seatbelt on the forklift when other employees routinely weren't doing so either.

 

[Schnugg]

Here we go again.....

 

[RobLyman]

A little ironic, since they (BAE) make some of the seats and seatbelts in the back of our aircraft.

 

[scoolbubba]

A little ironic, since they (BAE) make some of the seats and seatbelts in the back of our aircraft.

And holsters. And body armor. And gun cleaning kits. And bulletproof glass in hummers. And MRAPs. And the Goshawk.

The devil woman works for one of their subsidiaries in Jacksonville. Anyone who's a shooter probably has something BAE makes.

 

[Redux]

A little ironic, since they (BAE) make some of the seats and seatbelts in the back of our aircraft.

Maybe the 600 Lb blimp proof tested them?

 

[phrogdriver]

I don't begrudge people a few extra pounds if they aren't in the service. If you'd rather spend your spare time downing some sliders instead of hitting the gym, then that's your call. 600 pounds, though? That's like carrying around 2-3 extra full-size men everywhere.

The seat belt extender would have been reasonable accommodation. However, if you're a forklift driver, I'm willing to bet that a good part of your job is physical. He probably is not capable of everything that job requires. I'm curious about how rigorous those performance evaluations are over there.

 

[RobLyman]

And holsters. And body armor. And gun cleaning kits. And bulletproof glass in hummers. And MRAPs. And the Goshawk.

The devil woman works for one of their subsidiaries in Jacksonville. Anyone who's a shooter probably has something BAE makes.

The devil woman? Perhaps an ex of yours?

 

[pourts]

Will master's manatee finally have some company on AW in the hall of shame?

 

[NavAir42]

Will master's manatee finally have some company on AW in the hall of shame?

Nah, I think that's just his affectionate term for his wife.

 

[gaijin6423]

When I started my job here in KY a few months ago, I had a guy who was around four-and-a-quarter. Which is, believe it or not (KY is one of the fattest states in the country), is odd for our employees, as about 75% of them are actually there supplementing the income from their family farms, and the physical nature of the work between the two places tends to keep them trim. On my second or third day there, I was hanging out in his area of manufacturing, learning a bit, and the conversation went like this:

Employee: Hey, man, you used to be in the military, right?
Gaijin: Yeah.
E: Well, you guys do exercise and stuff pretty often, huh?
G: Yeah, I guess you could say that. Why?
E: I'm tired of being this big. I feel horrible. I...can't even see my own dick. I need to change this. Can you help me?
G: I can, but what you really need to do is go see your doctor first, before you do anything.

The doctor did more than I hoped. He scared the living shit out of him, and when I got back from my corporate-sponsored sightseeing adventures and escaped the nightshift dungeon, the guy was down to 235. He is almost exactly half of what he was several months ago. He's a better worker, has a better attitude, has more money (the amount he was spending on food and healthcare alone were staggering), and will probably live to see at least 50 now. And he's still getting himself in better shape, all without drugs, surgery, etc. Hell, he wants me to go run a 10k for breast cancer in a couple of weeks.

I guess the point is, in my roundabout sort of way, that every day is one more chance to turn it around. I don't begrudge people a few extra pounds--god knows that I've got about 10 that I could stand to lose--but it eventually comes down to one thing: Free will...choice...whatever you want to call it. BAE Fatty (BAEF....BEEF...HA!) may have had some medical contributions to his hugeness, but in the end, it all comes down to choice. I have no sympathy for him.