Study Says Overweight Employees Cost More

Researchers at Duke University have released the results of their latest study. It appears that overweight employees cost employers more money. Experts hope this study will encourage employers to invest in programs to help fight obesity.

According to the study overweight employees file at least twice the number of worker's compensation claims as their skinny counterparts. The research concluded that fatter employees had over 10 more days absent due to injuries. Medical claims for injuries were seven times higher than trim employees.

Some of the claims by overweight employees include injuries to the back, wrist, arm, neck, shoulders, hip, knee and foot injuries. The results of the research were released after an eight year study of nearly 12,000 people who were employed by Duke.

Workers with a BMI (body mass index) of 40 or higher had the highest rate of medical claims and days missed from work. Researchers hope this is an eye opener for employers who will realize that overweight employees can cost them a great deal.

New York attorney Richard Corenthal reacted to the study by stressing the importance to employers that they should not discriminate against their overweight employees. He feels that in light of these findings, employers may begin to treat obese employees differently. This can be the onslaught of many discriminatory lawsuits if not handled properly.

The study was funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and was released yesterday to the Internal Medicine Archives.

The national rankings for BMI are as follows 18.5 or less is considered underweight. 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal. 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight. 30 to 30.9 is obese. 40 or more is considered very obese. To find your body mass index there are many online calculators, or you may use the chart issued by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm.

Employers are encouraged to offer plans and incentives for employees to lose weight and become healthy. Many employers are contemplating whether the cost for implementing such programs will outweigh the risk of doing nothing.

Employees cannot be discriminated against because of weight and in light of this new study employers should become aware of possible discrimination. Obesity is a big problem in the United States, but researchers admit that the BMI measurement cannot distinguish between fat and muscle. It is solely based on your weight and height. Therefore someone could be considered obese when, in fact, they are muscular.

Sources:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/obesity.html April 24, 2007

http://www.local6.com/health/12996134/detail.html April 24, 2007

http://www.local6.com/idipopup/health/9903635/detail.html April 24, 2007