"Many Employers Get Away With Whatever They Want"
No, this isn't about flogging their employees bloody if they mess up a little -- it's about the heinous expectation that employees arrive for work at the start of business, not an hour later, as a UK government advisor proposes.
This hour leeway thing is a special provision, however -- just for obese employees.
Martin Bagot writes in The Mirror, UK:
Fat workers should be allowed to turn up late and be protected under discrimination law, a leading employment specialist has said.The plan could see obese office workers miss the rush hour commute, demand an extra large chair or even work from home.
A UK government advisor will propose changes at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna as new research shows Brits are among most fat-ist in Europe.
Prof Stephen Bevan has advised the Department of Work and Pensions and is a member of Public Health England's advisory board.
He will tell 2,000 medics that obesity should be classed as a "protected characteristic" allowing staff to sue fat shaming bosses.
This guy gets it -- about where this can lead:
Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: "This is a ludicrous idea that will only create resentment against obese people if it were implemented."Being fat is not a disability and the majority of people get to work by car so it is difficult to see why obese people should be given an extra hour to arrive.
"If obese people are to be given special privileges, should we not also give special privileges to smokers, alcoholics and compulsive gamblers?
There's a study by Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert and his colleagues that suggests there might be a sort of concept creep -- about what we view as problematic -- as life gets easier and easier and we have fewer and fewer problems:
Perceptual and judgment creep
Do we think that a problem persists even when it has become less frequent? Levari et al. show experimentally that when the "signal" a person is searching for becomes rare, the person naturally responds by broadening his or her definition of the signal--and therefore continues to find it even when it is not there. From low-level perception of color to higher-level judgments of ethics, there is a robust tendency for perceptual and judgmental standards to "creep" when they ought not to. For example, when blue dots become rare, participants start calling purple dots blue, and when threatening faces become rare, participants start calling neutral faces threatening. This phenomenon has broad implications that may help explain why people whose job is to find and eliminate problems in the world often cannot tell when their work is done.
Mirror via @Overlawyered
That last paragraph applies equally well to racism and sexism.
And there's another stumbling block that arises with both issues: even if people whose job is to find and eliminate problems recognize that they've succeeded, they're not about to admit it lest their jobs be deemed redundant.
jdgalt at June 29, 2018 10:43 PM
Good way to ensure that obese persons aren’t hired in the first place.
Wfjag at June 30, 2018 12:57 AM
If someone has trouble with being in rush hour; instead of showing up an hour later, try going into work earlier.
If your job instead open earlier than maybe join a gym near your place of work and go there for some time before work?
charles at June 30, 2018 4:12 AM
You're all so insanely...reasonable!
Amy Alkon at June 30, 2018 6:12 AM
This is one of the problems with laws mandating reasonable accommodations. So many people lack reason so any and all accommodations become required.
Ben at June 30, 2018 7:00 AM
If you give special privileges to a group of people that anyone can join simply by eating too much, you will find that more and more people will join that group to get those privileges.
Is that what we want, a fat and tardy society? 'cause that's what we're gonna get.
Conan the Grammarian at June 30, 2018 7:54 AM
Maybe they should just walk to work? Cheap transportation and exercise? told you about the power of and.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 30, 2018 8:13 AM
Is that what we want, a fat and tardy society?
Then the National Health Service is going to bitch about their budgets getting blown up by all these fat people.
Unintended consequences, how do they work?
I R A Darth Aggie at June 30, 2018 8:16 AM
I call BS on this one. I've been fat all my life (no diet advise please) and have never had problems coming into work on time due to my weight. When I am occasionally late, it's due to traffic which affects everyone equally. I am always there earlier than my thin millennial coworkers and take less sick time as well.
Aromatase at June 30, 2018 8:26 AM
Nope. If anyone has permission to come in late or leave early, it should be parents with children under 10. Getting children dressed, prepping food down to cutting into small bites, constant supervision, transporting them to school and day care, and getting them dressed takes time. That had to take more time than being obese.
Interestingly, I read a study about teenage girls who were obese. They didn’t eat any more than their slim counterparts. The difference was in energy conservation. The fat people didn’t take any unnecessary movements. They didn’t fidget. They moved slower.
If this correlated to the workplace, I would assume that obese people become masters of efficiency or continue to conserve energy throughout the day and move more slowly which means that they might get less done. This means that perhaps they work a seven hour day on eight hours so they are getting that hour off anyway. I realize that this would not apply to everyone but I would not be surprised if it is true in many cases. It’s not easy carrying around that extra weight. Things are more difficult.
Jen at June 30, 2018 9:12 AM
Maybe if they got off their asses and extended the energy and calories to get to work on time they wouldn't be obese.
A side thought: What about really thin people. It is "hateful" to joke about fat people; but it is open season on maligning the super thin. Shouldn't they get special accommodation as a "protected characteristic"?
Jay at June 30, 2018 10:26 AM
Wfjag:
Oh, you silly, silly person. Don't you realize that the day we start recognizing obesity as a disability that requires special accommodations, like the right to arrive at work late, body size will become protected status and employers will be required by law to maintain a certain quota of obese people?
What were you thinking?
As I was typing my second sentence, it occurred to me that if anyone should be given leeway to arrive at work late, it should be those that are truly disabled. Those who have to pack and unpack wheelchairs and whatever else they need, as opposed to those who can still heft their tonnage out of the car and waddle across the parking lot on two fat legs.
Wouldn't it be a terrible embarrassment to our society if the obese were allowed to come an hour late, while those who actually need special accommodations, such as wheelchairs, prostethics, etc. are expected to be at work on time?
"What's this? You're four minutes late? Roll yourself into my office, gimp."
jdgalt:
And feminism. Notice the ever-expanding definition of rape to include things like drunken consent and morning-after regret?
And one of my favorite concepts, psychological rape. Straight from the Goshen College website:
Patrick at June 30, 2018 10:58 AM
Nope.
I worked in an office in which the latest management trainee had a two-year-old. She had tacit permission to come in late and leave early - and did so, every day. Her "I've got a two-year-old" mantra became a running joke around the office.
Conan the Grammarian at June 30, 2018 1:20 PM
Conan: I'll bet she used that mantra for four years.
Fayd at June 30, 2018 6:33 PM
“Many employers get away with whatever they want.”
Some people can't stand the idea of other people doing whatever they want.
Ken R at June 30, 2018 10:01 PM
?
I am fat and I am extremely punctual.
NicoleK at July 1, 2018 1:03 AM
Not sure why this is a surprise. I've seen a claim that the Department of Justice hires without regard to mental acuity.
Which would explain a lot.
Radwaste at July 1, 2018 8:30 AM
A study in the US found that after the ADA made it harder to fire disabled people, their unemployment rose. how did that happen?
cc at July 1, 2018 6:32 PM
Phone rings: "Hey boss? I'm coming in late. Yeah, still drunk from last night. Hey now! It's a disease!"
Steve Daniels at July 2, 2018 11:37 AM
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