Saturday, June 20, 2009

When our bodies belong to Big Business

This development is so outrageous that I couldn't possibly let it slide.

In Cincinnati, Western-Southern Financial Group now imposes a "weight surcharge" on employees. Workers are docked $15 to $60 a month if their body mass index exceeds limits that have been promulgated by the federal government.

So the company weighs employees each month to see if they're in compliance?

Hell, according to the federal guidelines, even I'm "overweight", so it's not like this formula makes much sense anyway.

I think we can say that America has become a corporatist command state. Our bodies are now considered company property. It's not just an issue of authoritarian control. It's also an issue of discrimination on the basis of physique.

There ought to be a law. Employers should be prohibited from instituting policies like this.

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