Some Michigan employers are trying to promote a healthier lifestyle for their employees in order to decrease insurance costs related to obesity. A report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services addressed the potential cost of obesity to U.S. companies:
$13 billion per year, based on $8 billion in health care costs, $2.4 billion in paid sick leave, $1.8 billion in life insurance and $1 billion in disability insurance.
Even without those numbers the high rate of obesity in this country is a fact. The less exercise a person does and the less of a balanced diet a person eats the more likely they are to have health problems. Of course companies should not discriminate against employees that are over weight. However, offering non-compulsory incentives to stay healthy is a positive for employees and employers.
A sandpaper company in Missouri, VSM Abrasives, has set up “a voluntary program under which employees weigh in each quarter and those whose weights have not increased receive $25 and employees who keep weight off for one year get an extra $25 and a day off with pay.”
The only other areas with similar weight discrimination laws are the District of Columbia and the cities of San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Interestingly the Michigan law was actually created for the purpose of “protecting women and others of small physical size who wanted to work as firefighters or prison guards.”
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