Height, weight discrimination bill a gift to NYC legal sharks
New York City is paradise for employment lawyers.
Witness the latest move by the City Council to add yet another protected class to our already-overstuffed rolls on employment and business discrimination: fat people.
The body passed a bill to that effect Thursday with an overwhelming majority; it now awaits a signature from Mayor Adams.
The bill offers the same protections against “height discrimination” (no word on whether this will apply to dating apps; sorry, short kings).
Maybe they can get the bald in there too, next go round?
Or what about terrible dancers, the left-handed and people who can’t cook to save their lives?
Kidding aside, no one should be discriminated against in employment or at a business.
But come on.
New York City is in the midst of a financial crisis, a migrant crisis and an education crisis.
And the best our council can do is figure out one more way to stuff money into the pockets of professional grievance-chasers and shady consulting firms offering sensitivity trainings?
Predictably, the height-and-weight bill’s sponsor, Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan), framed it as a move to raise awareness and change “the culture in how we think about weight.”
Sounds nice.
But cultural change, last we checked, does not lie within the council’s mandate.
And even Abreu knows the whole thing is bunk: The bill has loopholes for when height and weight actually matter on the job — as for firefighters, cops and other work requiring physical prowess as much as mental acuity.
So much for leading fat advocate Tigress Osborn’s cheerleading on the bill: “Anti-fatness doesn’t just break our hearts — it drains our wallets, steals our opportunities, and limits our lives.”
Which is why the council should stick to repping the best interests of the voters, not creating yet more red tape to line shysters’ pockets and suffocate businesses.
