When Delta Airlines acquired numerous assets of the defunct Pan American World
Airways it also hired many of Pan Am''s former employees. But they rejected a
number of former Pan Am flight attendents, all with more than fourteen years
experiance, some because they did not meet Delta's height and weight
standards.
"Discrimination," some tried to claim, and sued under New York's Human Rights
law. The State agency in charge of such matters supported the claim.
On December 17, in the case of Delta Air Lines v New York State Divison of
Human Rights, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the airline.
The flight attendents had claimed that Delta's weight charts failed to make
allowance for the fact that older persons tend to be somewhat heavier than
their younger counterparts. But the court failed to find that there was a
requirement for such an allowance.
Instead, citing a lack of evidence that the applicant's were medically
incapable of meeting Delta's weight requirements "due to some recognizable
medical condition," the Court said that it was "satisfied that weight, in and
of itself, does not constitute a disability for discrimination qualification
purposes."
Under New York law discrimination based upon disability is prohibited; so is
dicrimination based upon gender, race, or religious belief. However, there is
no prohibition per se against prejudice or bias based on weight. This being
the case, said the Court, the flight attendents plight could not be decided in
their favor because the use of weight charts as a screening device was not
illegal. To have prevailed they would instead have had to demonstrate that
they suffered from a "legally defined or recognizable medical impairment which
restricts normal bodily function," according to an article in the January 5,
1998, issue of HR Wire.
Delta can Discriminate, Says New York Court of Appeals