Obesity is a serious problem plaguing Americans.  About every ninety seconds, obesity claims a life.  [1]  Not only does obesity affect one's quality of life, it also has serious implications in the workplace.  Employers incur huge costs related to their overweight employees.  "On average, at least twenty-two percent of employees at any given workplace are overweight or obese."  [2]  Additionally, obese employees incur thirty-six percent more in healthcare costs than do employees who are considered normal weight.  [3]

In 1994, employers spent $13 billion for the following costs associated with obesity-related health problems: "(1) higher use of health care services; (2) lowered productivity; (3) increased absenteeism; (4) higher health and disability insurance premiums; and (5) other weight-related conditions."  [4]  This amount was broken up as follows: "$8 billion was paid by health insurance, $2.4 billion for sick leave, $1.8 billion for life insurance, and $1 billion for disability insurance."  [5]  One can only surmise how much these numbers have grown in the past thirteen years.

III. Creative Measures to Remedy the Problem

These significant figures spurred employers to take action, and many of them have turned to perhaps the greatest motivator possible:  money.  For example, IBM has paid out more than $130 million to the 65,000 employees (about half of IBM's US workforce) who are enrolled in its fitness programs.  [6]  Bonuses up to $300 a year are paid to employees who exercise at least three times a week.  [7]  Considering that the U.S. industry loses thirty-nine million work days through obesity-related lost productivity, absenteeism, and medical expenses, [8] this investment is well worth it.  The National Business Group on Health Care estimates that by reducing healthcare costs and increasing employee productivity, businesses such as IBM will recoup a $3 return on every dollar spent on preventive measures.  [9]

Other companies have adopted similarly creative solutions.  The Container Store in Texas allows its employees to earn points for completing a required unit of activity (employees can also earn a point for drinking eight ounces of water); the employees can then exchange points for gifts cards or money.  [10]  Some employers are handing out T-shirts and duffel bags to encourage healthful living by employees.  [11]  Texas Instruments offers its employees a $10 discount per month off their health insurance premiums provided that they participate in the company's wellness program.  [12]  Motorola, Pfizer, Union Pacific, and General Motors offer rewards ranging from iPods to cash to encourage workers to lose weight.  [13]  Freedom One Financial Group, a Michigan provider of 401(k) plans, "jump-started its fitness program in 2005 by offering a free four-day cruise to Jamaica for employees who met certain weight loss or body fat reduction goals."  [14]  The possibilities are almost endless.  The moral of the story is that if an employer is willing to dangle the carrot, the employee will likely follow. 

IV. Applicablity Beyond Obesity

Offering employees monetary or material incentives is not limited only to weight problems.  The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas provides a program monitoring the prevalence of muscular skeletal disorders which have increased its healthcare costs.  [15]  By bringing in arthritis specialists to improve how employees function at their workstations, the Bank has seen increased employee attendance, leading to a gain of about $250,000 per year.  [16]  Other companies have launched health monitoring programs in areas such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome.  [17]  Finally, there are also companies who implement preventive measures by trying to get their employees to visit their doctors more often.  [18]

V. Legal Implications

Employers have to be careful when implementing these programs to make sure that obese employees do not feel like they are singled out.  Most importantly, employers cannot try to avoid these healthcare costs simply by refusing to hire obese individuals.  Although there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of one's weight, this does not mean discriminatory action should be condoned.  [19]  It is morally questionable to refuse employment based on one's appearance.  If companies can discriminate based on one's weight, it follows that they can also discriminate based on one's height or hair length.  These standards are arbitary and they should not enter into the hiring process.  Furthermore, companies should be aware of the goodwill they could lose and the harm to their reputation should they decide to discriminate against obese individuals.

Additionally, paying obese employees to lose weight seems like a sound business decision, but what about employees who are not overweight?  Employers should encourage all employees to participate in wellness programs because prevention is easier than rehabilitation.  Given that seventy percent of chronic conditions are preventable, companies want to keep low-risk employees at low risk.  [20]  A normal weight employee could very well have health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes.  Although these problems may not manifest themselves in the form of obesity, they can still contribute to decreased work productivity.  Thus, it is a smart business move to include healthy weight employees in company wellness programs.

Finally, there are privacy concerns.  Employers have to be careful with the employees' personal information gathered from health screenings.  Some employers have decided to avoid potential problems by hiring third-party vendors to conduct the health screening process.  [21]  Third-party vendors only turn over the health information of the employees as a group and not of the individual employees.  [22]  This way, employees do not have to worry about the possibility of the information being used to deny them health coverage.  [23]

VI. Conclusion

Although employers adopted these measures with cost saving in mind, it is the employees who end up as big winners.  The workers are happier, healthier, and live longer.  One employee participating in his company's wellness program discovered he had prostate cancer during a routine health screening, and he was able to receive prompt treatment.  [24]  For such employees, these programs are priceless.

[1] Kelley M. Blassingame, Employers, Government Fight to Curb Obesity Epidemic, Emp. Benefit News, Aug. 2003, at 37.

[2] Peter Neurath, Insurers Tackle Weight Issue with Obesity Programs, Puget Sound Bus. J. July 30, 2004, available at http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2004/08/02focus8.html.

[3] Workforce Health Improvement Act:  Healthy Employees; Healthy Bottom Line:  Subcomm. On Tax, Fin. and Exports of the H. Small Bus. Comm., 108th Cong. 35 (2004).

[4] Kathryn Hinton, Note and Commentary, Employer by Name, Insurer by Trade:  Society's Obesity Epidemic and its Effects on Employers' Healthcare Costs, 12 Conn. Ins. L.J. 137, 143 (2005/2006). 

[5] Id.

[6] Richard Luscombe, To State Workers:  Get Fit or Lose Your Job?, Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 30, 2007, at p.3.

[7] Id.

[8] Hinton, supra note 4.

[9] Luscombe, supra note 6.

[10] Roger Yu, Wellness Benefit:  Fitter Workers May Help Trim Costs for Firms, Dallas Morning News, July 7, 2004, at 1D.

[11] Id.

[12] Brendan M. Case, Providing Extra Incentive for Some Local Workers, Dallas Morning News, April 5, 2006, at 3d.

[13] Luscombe, supra note 6.

[14] Melinda Fulmer, Get Paid to Lose Weight, MSN Money, Mar. 16, 2007, http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHealth/GetPaidToLoseWeight.aspx.

[15] Yu, supra note 10.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] Id.

[19] Jennifer Shoup, Comment, Protecting the Obese Worker, 29 Ind. L. Rev. 206 (1995).

[20] Fulmer, supra note 14.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Yu, supra note 10.