Obesity as a Disability

Some courts are beginning to treat severe or morbid obesity as a disability entitled to protections under the ADA or FEHA.

In one case, the California Supreme Court held that weight may qualify as a protected disability within FEHA’s meaning only if medical evidence demonstrates that it results from a physiological condition affecting one or more of the basic bodily systems and it limits a major life activity.¹ A subsequent California Court of Appeal case concluded that the term “physiological condition” includes genetic conditions.²

Federal courts are split on the issue of whether there must be a physiological condition³