Should employee BMI standards be illegal

Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated by a height and weight; thus, it is used as a kind of indicator to measure one’s body shape. Some industries have considered BMI as one of the hiring standards due to its possible benefits, including lowering health care expenses and increasing productivity. However, I insist that using the index has to be illegal for the following reasons.

Firstly, it is difficult to justify the necessity of BMI for hiring. While there are jobs requiring certain physical capabilities (i.e., construction workers and soldiers), some are never related to them (i.e., programmers and bankers). For the former cases, they already have their own standards to evaluate candidates, except for the BMI. For the latter cases, the employers do not have any single reason to consider candidates’ body shape to find out the best ones to conduct their target tasks. If they consider BMI, it can result in unfair situations – one with the best qualifications will not be hired due to an absurd reason. Thus, as there is no need to consider BMI in most jobs and considering it may induce undesirable results, I believe it is desirable to make employee BMI standards illegal.

Secondly, BMI standards can be an act of discrimination as worse as discrimination issues of religious belief, gender, or skin color. Some people are obese or underweight due to physical illnesses such as diabetes. If they are banned to be hired for the BMI reason, it can be discriminating them due to their diseases. This obviously counters what human beings have tried to make a harmonious world with diversity. As we respect those with differences, we need to respect other’s body shapes as well. Thus, in order to prevent discrimination of certain groups, I believe the BMI standards for hiring should become illegal.

There are some beneficial reasons to consider BMI for hiring as previous studies have demonstrated. However, the standard cannot be easily justified and it can induce another act of discrimination. Thus, I support that the BMI standard for hiring has to be illegal.