Is it right that obesity is a disability and that I have to provide extra wide chairs etc for obese employees?

It can be, according to the recent decision of the European Court of Justice in FOA (Kaltoft) v Billund. Mr Kaltoft was a clinically-obese child-minder for a local council in Denmark. He was dismissed due to redundancy; he alleged that obesity was a factor and brought proceedings.

The District Court referred four questions on obesity to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling. The first three questions dealt with whether it was unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of obesity, whether any such right was directly applicable, and querying the appropriate burden of proof. The ECJ held that obesity itself cannot be regarded as a ground for protection against discrimination, and therefore the