New York City prohibits discrimination based on height and weight

“We all deserve equal access to employment, housing and public accommodation, regardless of our looks, and it shouldn’t matter how tall or heavy we are,” said the mayor, who also joined Fat-Assumption advocates among other elected officials at a law signing ceremony at City Hall.

Adams, a Democrat who published a book of reversing his diabetes through a plant-based diet, said the regulation “will help level the playing field for all New Yorkers, create more inclusive workplaces and living environments, and protect against discrimination.”

Exceptions under the regulation that the City Council approved This month considers cases where a person’s height or weight could prevent them from performing essential functions of a job.

Some business leaders voiced opposition to the legislation when it was brought to Council, arguing that compliance could become a onerous burden.

“The magnitude of the impact and cost of this legislation has not been fully considered,” Kathy Wylde, the partnership’s president and CEO for New York City, said in a statement.

Several other US cities have outlawed weight and appearance discrimination, including San Francisco, Washington, DC and Madison, Wisconsin. And in states like New Jersey and New Jersey, laws banning weight and size discrimination have been introduced Massachusetts.

Tigress Osborn, chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said the City of New York’s weight discrimination ban should serve as a model for the nation and the world.

Osborn said the city’s passage of the new ordinance “will have a global impact” and show that “discriminating against people based on their height is wrong and is something we can change.”

The regulation comes into effect in 180 days, on November 22nd.