Daily Diary

Fats of life

Posted 29/01/2007 by The Daily Diary

The Diary has been moved on occasion to highlight the somewhat trigger-happy marketing skills of various pundit-centric sections of the profession, notably those best-foot-forward divorce lawyers who can’t let a Mills-McCartney scoop hit the red-tops without firing off a cheeky press release.

But those rival Cassandras from the employment side of the profession are not be outdone, as DWF’s Stephen Robinson proves by taking the new year fitness resolution period as the ideal moment to remind employers of their chance to clear out the fatties.

The key message of his most recent missive is that employers “worried about the weight of their workers are within their rights to refuse to take on obese job candidates”.

Crucially, DWF reminds employers that “unlike race, sex or religion, the law offers no specific protection against ‘fattism’”.

Still, before health-Nazi companies start getting medieval on chubby staff’s collective ass, Steve sounds a note of warning.

“Take the precaution of asking candidates…whether they suffer from a disability,” he advises. “Fail to ask these questions and there is a risk that you may be inadvertently discriminating against them.”

As opposed to advertently discriminating against them, presumably.

Robinson’s coup de grace is this in-no-way-shoe-horned-in thought: “Obesity can cause increased absence and reduced productivity and this time of year, when New Year resolutions are uppermost in people’s mind, is an ideal opportunity to take a pro-active stance to combat it.”

So committed is DWF to the war on lard that partners openly boast of their physical prowess, exemplified by the firm’s online profile of high-kicking, Karate-chopping corporate partner Ian Gillis, pictured here battling a miniature helicopter.