Court: Employer must pay for weight-loss surgery

[Kadie]

Court: Employer must pay for weight-loss surgery

By CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, September 10, 2009

(09-10) 11:46 PDT Indianapolis (AP) --

An Indiana court has ruled that a pizza shop must pay for a 340-pound employee's weight-loss surgery to ensure the success of another operation for a back injury he suffered at work — raising concern among businesses bracing for more such claims.

The Indiana Court of Appeals decision, coupled with a recent Oregon court ruling, could make employers think twice before hiring workers with health conditions that might cost their companies thousands of dollars at a shot down the road.

"This kind of situation will happen again ... and employers are undoubtedly worried about that," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, N.J., an offshoot of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Boston's The Gourmet Pizza must pay for lap-band surgery for Adam Childers, a cook at the store in Schererville, under last month's Indiana ruling that upheld a 4-3 decision by the state's workers' compensation board.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/10/financial/f111801D89.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0QjaCihSH

[Lance_Boyle]

1. abso-fucking-lutely RIDICULOUS!

The man's obesity is not a work-related injury, and is more than likely an underlying cause of the work-related back injury he suffered. The employer should appeal.