Discrimination comes in all forms, it happens every day, but most people feel protected from it by the law, or so they thought.
For years, people have been discriminated because of their weight, but the size of a person’s body has nothing to do with the capacity of their mind.
Last month, a woman working for the restaurant, Ruby Tuesdays in North Carolina, was fired by her district manager within days of being named employee of the month. She believes it was because she is overweight. Misty Watts is a widow, mother of three, waitress and a student.
“What her district manager said was, ‘Misty, you know I have to call you in here because your shirt does not fit you correctly,'” Watts said. “‘Your shirt will never fit you correctly. And you will never be able to buy one that does.’ And he proceeded to tell me I don’t fit the image. Although, the manager never said the word ‘overweight,’ I am convinced that I was terminated because I’m overweight,” Watts said.
After Watts was terminated, a co-worker wrote a letter to the restaurant that said Watts “did not deserve to lose the job that she lost. And Ruby Tuesdays doesn’t deserve her.” In a written statement, the company said, “It is not Ruby Tuesdays’ policy to terminate people because of weight….It is our policy to set…high standards for performance and appearance.” And, “We want our team members…to wear…shirts, blouses and jeans that fit properly…our people are the point of direct contact with all our guests. That is why it is so important for us to have team members who look and perform their best…”
Although someone cannot be fired because of age, sex, race and religion, it’s not against the law to terminate someone based on weight. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training,classification, referral, and other aspects of employment, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. At the time this law was written, maybe no one had any idea weight would be an issue. People were trying to overcome being judged by the color of their skin; weight was the last issue on their minds.
In the case of Watts, weight had nothing to do with her ability to perform her job. Watts was a good employee; after all, she was employee of the month. So her termination was unjust.
Ruby Tuesdays corporate officers deny Watts was fired for being overweight, but citing employee confidentiality, wouldn’t say more about her.
Society must not be so superficial that it cannot see a person’s capabilities, but only the size of a person’s waistband. It’s one thing if Watts wanted to be a supermodel, but she didn’t. She worked hard and in the end her reward was a reminder of her weight and not her hard work.
